House of Flags, Parliament Square, London

The House of Flags was a temporary freestanding structure erected on Parliament Square for the 2012 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. It was one of the Mayor of London’s ‘Wonder Series’ of installations to celebrate the capital’s design talent by showcasing cutting edge architectural projects throughout London. It was made of plywood panels containing cut out symbols, each printed with the flag of a nation participating in the games. Together the flag panels created a large timber jigsaw, a matrix of symbols, shimmering colours, shadows and perforations, inviting the public to experience an image of the cosmopolitan world as well as an image of multi-ethnic London. The structure was designed to be demounted and installed elsewhere. The installation responded to the following research questions: How can the unifying spirit of the Olympic and Paralympic Games and the cosmopolitanism of London be reflected in a temporary installation? How can the design objectives of an interlocking, stacked structure be reconciled with the protocols of heraldry? How can a temporary installation be prefabricated for hand assembly, demounting and reassembly? Once the initial decision to design an interlocking, stacked structure had been made, the architects worked closely with manufacturers and printers to research the production of the CNC cut printed plywood panels. Panels were designed to be lighter towards the top of the structure to facilitate hand assembly. The architects worked closely with the Flag Institute, the world’s leading research and documentation centre for flag information, to determine how flag designs and relationships could correspond with their strict protocols. The structure was a highly visible installation and popular photographic backdrop throughout the Olympic and Paralympic games and was widely disseminated in the media as a symbol of the games. This output will also be returned by Yeoryia Manolopoulou for University College London.