Next time you are around Sydney city why not visit Customs House in Circular Quay and see the futuristic yet organic structure designed by the progressive architecture think tank Laboratory for Visionary Architecture, LAVA was also responsible for the amazing Watercube swimming centre in Beijing Olympics. The 20 metre tall sculpture provides an intense visual contrast to the beautifully restored heritage interior of Customs House and is on display till June 2009.

With 3,000 cubic meters of space connected with a minimal surface area of 300 square metres, and only 40 kilograms of lightweight material. The latest digital fabrication and engineering techniques used to realise the idea derived from nature. Past and present co-exist with an intense visual contrast to the beautifully restored heritage interior. Five funnels of the futuristic sculpture reach out and connect the different levels of Customs House, floating above the City model on the ground floor to the backdrop of a digital rainforest soundscape by David Chesworth.

On the ground floor, a media wall also displays the making of the installation and a new technology autostereoscopic plays 3D Green Void visuals without the need for 3D glasses, a 360 degree panorama created by Peter Murphy. Is it art or architecture? We can probably conclude that architecture is art and vice versa.

Video of Green Void LAVA exhibition at Sydney Customs House

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