Nanning Gateway
Nanning, China
Nanning Administration Bureau of Planning
Project 2000 – 2002
The Nanning Gateway is a strong statement for visitors travelling into the city from the airport. Viewed while pulling away from toll gates, the design presents a pair of monumental sculptural flowers flanking the freeway.
However, driving along the route, one of the flowers deconstructs into a series of petals projecting from the embankment to the right. It is revealed to be an optical illusion, an assembly formed from the precise visual alignment of separate elements spread over several hundred metres.
This transformation of static sculptures changes the gateway into a dynamic space/time experience, exploiting the unique opportunities available to the moving observer. This approach is quite different to a static installation.
Each petal becomes an individual sculpture in its own right, constructed from coloured, perforated metal panels to be partially transparent, creating a sense of movement from the moire patterns formed by the perforations.
