Giant inflatables bring alive 18th-century Scottish ruins

Inflatable architecture is having a delightful resurgence, from the fantastical bubble-like music venue in the Netherlands to this site-specific work by artist Steve Messam in Scotland’s brand new Borders Sculpture Park. Titled XXX, Messam has inaugurated the new sculpture venue with white inflatables in three architectural installations.

The sculpture park is located within the grounds of the 18th-century Mellerstain House, one of Scotland’s finest Georgian homes. Messam’s white fabric sculptures each respond to a different part of the Mellerstain estate.

“Pointed” is a spike-covered roof emerging from an empty stone cottage. “Towered” rises in a series of six inflated cylinders from the ruin of an old laundry building. “Scattered” is made with a series of 12-foot-wide inflated balls that float atop the estate’s famous lake.

“As interventions, the sculptures speak the language of scale—all three are bigger than a house,” Messam told Designboom. “As studies in scale and form, these artworks have to be directly experienced in the environment to be fully appreciated, so I hope they will encourage even more people to visit this wonderful architectural gem in the Scottish Borders.”

Via: Designboom