Writing for The New York Times, Elias Redstone declares the project a "wonderfully surreal vision" that "originated from surprisingly practical concerns," namely the tight budget and challenging location.

An account from The Guardian's Liz Bird gives an insight into what it is like to stay in the vessel. She writes: "the pièce de resistance is the snug upper deck, filled with London-themed books, which we quickly rename 'The Bridge' and where we write up the ship's log".

Observer critic Rowan Moore praises the project as "an enjoyable and well-made jeu d'esprit", but warns readers not to be disillusioned into thinking of the project as an aid to urban regeneration, stating that "it is not a prototype for future Thames-side development".

Contrastingly, Edwin Heathcote of the Financial Times discusses the "unheimlich" (uncanny) qualities of the rooftop apartment's nautical aesthetic, and controversially compares it to the "shocking and visceral images of the aftermath of the Japanese tsunami last year" when fishing boats were "left marooned on roofs after the waters had subsided".

A few Dezeen readers got caught up in the fun aspects of the project, with one keen to "spend all day interpreting scenes from Jaws" and another imagining images from Mary Poppins - see all our readers' comments here.

You can see images of the project in our earlier story here, or see more stories about the instigating organisation, Living Architecture, here.

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A Room For London appeared first on Dezeen.

A boat-like structure temporarily anchored to the roof of London’s Southbank Centre is in fact a rentable one-bedroom apartment by London architect David Kohn and artist Fiona Banner.

Completed following a design competition instigated by Living Architecture and arts organisation Artangel, A Room for London will remain atop the Queen Elizabeth Hall until the end of the year.

The apartment was modelled on a riverboat that travelled to the Congo in the nineteenth century and features a pyramidal steel mast.

Magenta and turquoise-stained wood lines the interior, where bespoke furniture includes a bed that slides on rails and a combined sofa and bookshelf.

A pull-down ladder leads up to a first-floor library, which contains a logbook where guests can note any observations from their stay.

Living Architecture have commissioned a series of holiday homes from renowned architects - you can see more of their projects here, including the early designs for this project.

Photography is by Charles Hosea.

The following text is from Living Architecture:

A Room for London

Sell out architectural installation on South Bank opens January 2012.

A Room for London is a one-bedroom installation available to rent throughout 2012, and a programme of extraordinary events. The initial bookings for a night in this remarkable architectural space sold out within minutes when they went live in September. The second tranche of bookings (for nights July – Dec 2012) go on sale on 19 January 2012.

A Room for London is a major collaboration between Living Architecture and Artangel, in association with Southbank Centre. Designed by David Kohn Architects in collaboration with Fiona Banner, it was the winning entry in an open competition to create a room on one of the most visible sites in the British capital, where up to two people at a time could spend a unique night in an exemplary architectural landmark.

They set out to create a visitor experience of dramatic contrast between public and private space: the familiar and domestic are all here, contained within this intimate structure, perched on one of London’s most public vantage points. Despite this, the visitors’ privacy is completely protected and it is they who are able to look out at London and the people below. A Room for London thus becomes an urban landmark for 2012.

Kohn and Banner’s design shows contemporary architecture at its most playful and thought-provoking. The structure is inspired by the riverboat captained by Joseph Conrad whilst in the Congo in 1890, a journey echoed in his most well-known work Heart of Darkness. The pyramidal steel mast makes reference to one of London’s architectural highlights, the spire of Hawksmoor’s Christ Church. The inte- rior timber lined walls are reminiscent of boats of ‘old’, but have been boldly coloured magenta and turquoise. Bespoke furniture has been carefully integrated, including a centrepiece bed which slides on rails to make the most of the views over London. A pulldown ladder gives access to a small library room above the main space, where one can further absorb the views across London whilst completing the log book. Each aspect has been considered and crafted to produce a one-off, stimulating space.

A Room for London will be a visionary land- mark for the city in its Olympic year, presenting an opportunity, for those in London and beyond, to celebrate and connect to the capital and its cultural past, present and future.

Artangel is producing a programme of writings, readings and live music webcasts created in A Room for London. The programme includes A London Address, a series of urban reflections by writers; Sounds from a Room, a sequence of live webcast performances by musicians from across the globe; and Ideas for London, a competition, in association with the Evening Standard, to discover Londoners’ most remarkable ideas for their city. This extraordinary variety of words, sounds and ideas will be featured on A Room for London’s website. The programme is part of the London 2012 Festival.

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and Fiona Banner appeared first on Dezeen.

London studio David Kohn Architects and artist Fiona Banner have won the A Room For London competition to design a temporary one-bedroom apartment on top of London's Southbank Centre.

The winning design resembles a boat beached on the roof of the Queen Elizabeth Hall.

A Room for London was a design competition instigated by Living Architecture and arts organisation Artangel, as part of London 2012 Festival, to create a room for two people to spend the night on a visible site or building in London. Visitors will be able to stay in the room during 2012 and bookings can be made from 8 September this year.

Images are courtesy of David Kohn Architects and Fiona Banner.

See also: Skyroom by David Kohn Architects.

All our stories on the Living Architecture project »

Here's some more information about the project:

David Kohn Architects and artist Fiona Banner have been selected to design A Room for London, a temporary installation that will sit on top of the Queen Elizabeth Hall at Southbank Centre, London and be part of the London 2012 Festival.

The design competition for A Room for London, which attracted entries from around 500 architects and artists from across the world, was instigated by Living Architecture, and Artangel, in association with Southbank Centre. The brief was to create a room on one of the most visible sites in the British capital, where up to two people at a time could spend a unique night in an exemplary architectural landmark.

Kohn and Banner’s winning design is for a boat which, perched on the Queen Elizabeth Hall roof, will appear to have come to rest there, grounded, perhaps, from the retreating waters of the Thames below. From the lower and upper ‘decks’ of this beautifully crafted timber structure, there will be extraordinary views of a London panorama that stretches from Big Ben to St Paul's cathedral.

On arrival 'aboard', a nautical flag will be raised to signal occupation, with the visitors invited to fill in a logbook on the 'bridge' of the boat, detailing what they have experienced during their stay, out of the window as much as within themselves. This is contemporary architecture at its most playful, beguiling and thought-provoking.

Alongside public booking, the Room will play host to a guest programme of special visitors – artists, writers and cultural commentators of all kinds. These ‘thinkers-in-residence’ will be invited to stay and encouraged to muse on the city at a moment in time, through writing, image-making, online postings or live webcasts from the Room itself as their own idiosyncratic entries in the logbook. Some contributions will be instantly experienced by the public; others developed slowly during the course of the year. All visitors will be offered a chance to share experiences of a night in the Room.

Bookings for A Room for London - for no more than one night - will be available through the website from 1 January – 31 December 2012 with advance bookings going live on the website from 8 September 2011.

A Room for London is a cultural collaboration between Living Architecture and Artangel in association with Southbank Centre and the London 2012 Festival. The London 2012 Festival is the finale of the Cultural Olympiad. It will be a 12-week UK-wide cultural celebration from 21 June 2012 that brings leading artists from all over the world together to celebrate the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games through dance, music, theatre, the visual arts, film and digital innovation.

See also:

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Skyroom by David Kohn Architects	Studio East by Carmody Groarke	Nomiya temporary restaurant by Pascal Grasso

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