Coca‑Cola Reveals Plans For Ground-Breaking Olympic Park Pavilion For London 2012

Coca‑Cola, the longest continuous sponsor of the Olympic Movement, has today announced its plans to create an innovative and inspiring Pavilion for the Olympic Park. To coincide with its Future Flames campaign to recognise and reward the positive contributions made by young people every day, Coca‑Cola has commissioned a Pavilion to celebrate the best of British youth.

The designers of the Pavilion have been revealed as the critically acclaimed, emerging London practice, Pernilla & Asif, founded by Pernilla Ohrstedt, 30, and Asif Khan, 31. Pernilla and Asif have a history of collaborating on ingenious projects, and are in the process of designing an iconic building that will innovatively combine experimental architecture and cutting edge sound technology to create a stunning visual and sensory experience.

Called ‘The Coca‑Cola Beatbox’, Pernilla and Asif’s pioneering building also acts as a musical instrument. It takes inspiration from Coca‑Cola’s global platform for London 2012 – Move to the Beat – a campaign which aims to bring teens closer to the Olympics by fusing sport with their enduring passion for music. The creative concept will enable people to ‘play’ the Pavilion through interacting with sounds embedded within the architecture itself. Visitors will be able to create their own beat for London 2012 by remixing sounds of Olympic sports captured for an anthem that is being created for Coca‑Cola by Grammy award-winning producer, Mark Ronson.  
The appointment of Pernilla and Asif follows the culmination of a formal pitch process, supported by the prestigious London-based Architecture Foundation, which was initiated to discover the next big architectural talent in the UK and give them a showcase at London 2012. The Coca‑Cola Beatbox will be the pair’s largest commission to date and has been designed to deliver a lasting legacy.

In line with Coca‑Cola’s approach to achieving its most sustainable sponsorship activation to date, the design will also feature environmentally friendly technology.

Maxine Chapman, Director of Showcasing, London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Project Team, The Coca‑Cola Company, said:

“With the eyes of over four billion people on London next year, we want to use our long-standing association with the Olympic Movement to shine a spotlight on Britain’s brightest stars and inspire young people to pursue their passions.  

“Pernilla and Asif impressed us with their creativity, technical skills and vision. I’m delighted that we’re able to give them such a fantastic opportunity to showcase their talents and passions on the world’s stage.

I have no doubt that every visitor to the park will be inspired by their innovative and groundbreaking design, both during and beyond London 2012.”

Pernilla Ohrstedt and Asif Khan, said:

“As Londoners we are really excited to be a part of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Coca‑Cola, a truly iconic brand, has believed in our practice’s creativity and vision to represent them at London 2012, taking our unique architecture to a global audience.

“We have sought out some of the most innovative engineers in the UK to work with us to realise our vision – a ‘building with a beat’. The Coca‑Cola Beatbox will be a sensory experience that fuses design, music, sport and architecture. It will be something that people have never seen or heard before!”

-ENDS-

For further information on the announcement please contact the following on behalf of Coca‑Cola:
Katie Gosden or Jack Hart at Blue Rubicon on 0207 260 2700 or email coke@bluerubicon.com

For further information on Pernilla & Asif please contact the following at Purple:
Sam Trenerry, Stevie King or Julia Huff on 0207 434 7069 / 0207 434 7006/ 020 7434 7082 or email sam.trenerry@purplepr.com/Stevie@purplepr.com /Julia@purplepr.com


NOTES TO EDITORS

About Coca‑Cola and the Olympic Movement
The Coca‑Cola Company has been continuously associated with the Olympic Games since 1928 – longer than any other corporate sponsor of the Olympic Movement. The Company works with National Olympic Committees in more than 200 countries to help athletes train and compete. More than 90 percent of Coca‑Cola’s investment in the Olympic Games is directed to athlete development and to assist in staging the Games. Products of The Coca‑Cola Company refresh athletes, volunteers, officials and spectators during the Olympic Games. The Coca‑Cola Company is the exclusive non-alcoholic beverage provider to the Olympic Games through 2020.

About Future Flames
Coca‑Cola is using its sponsorship of the London 2012 Games to shine a light on the best of British youth by recognising, rewarding and inspiring the young people who use their passions to help make Britain Burn Brighter. As a Presenting Partner of the Olympic Torch Relay, we are rewarding those who have made a positive contribution to their local communities and the environment with a once in a lifetime opportunity to carry the Olympic Flame. As part of this commitment, Coca‑Cola has commissioned a Pavilion to celebrate the best of British youth.

About the Pavilion designers, Pernilla & Asif
Pernilla & Asif is a London based design practice with a unique approach defined by design innovation encompassing creative direction, and experimental architecture.

The studio was founded by Pernilla Ohrstedt (b.1980, Sweden) and Asif Khan (b.1979, UK). Pernilla & Asif met while studying architecture at the Bartlett School in London and have since collaborated on numerous experimental works such as Harvest for Design Museum London (2010) and Cloud for Design Miami/Basel (2011). Drawing upon their diverse experience from art, architecture and design Pernilla & Asif have created a radical and innovative partnership which operates at the cutting edge through both commissioned and self-initiated projects. The first project of their new studio, the Future Memory Pavilion was jointly commissioned by the British Council, The Royal Academy of Arts and the Preservation of Monuments Board, Singapore and was cited in front of the National Museum of Singapore Oct-Nov 2011 Pernilla & Asif are currently working on the 2011 Christmas window installations for cutting-edge Parisian fashion store Colette.

www.pernilla-asif.com

Pernilla Ohrstedt was born in 1980 in Stockholm, Sweden.

Her design output has been largely international, spanning the disciplines of experimental art, architecture and curatorial practice.
Pernilla was educated at Central St.Martin’s and holds a BSc and a Master of Architecture from the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London where she won the Leverhulme Trust Grant for innovative and interdisciplinary work of outstanding potential and the UCL faculty prize for distinguished work in architectural theory.

She went on to the Storefront for Art and Architecture gallery in New York. Working with Director Joseph Grima, Pernilla was co-originator of Storefront's first exhibitions program outside New York, the Pop-up Storefront series whilst producing, designing and curating the gallery’s programme and innovative architectural installations. In 2010 Pernilla curated and directed the celebrated Canadian Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2010. She has edited and co-authored a major publication about this project and numerous others. Working again with Grima, in 2011 she was Architect of Stazione Futuro, a monumental 4000 sqm exhibition in Turin for the 150th Anniversary of the Reunification of Italy, curated by Riccardo Luna editor of Wired Italy.

Pernilla is a founder of Flock, an international platform for exhibiting cutting-edge female designers. She exhibits regularly at London Design Festival, recent projects include Pandora’s Comb (2010), Iconoclastic Chair (2010) and Light Well Table (2011).

Asif Khan was born in 1979 in London, England.

He was awarded Designer of the Future by Design Miami in 2011 and was Designer in Residence at the Design Museum, London in 2009-10.

He studied Architecture at the Bartlett School, University College London and the Architectural Association, London, graduating with prizes from both.   His work, described in Abitare as “wildly inventive” crosses architecture, industrial design and furniture, particularly projects which combine these in new and unexpected ways.

Notable projects include West Beach Café, Littlehampton (2008), Tetra Light (2007), Swivel for Danese Milano (2011), and furniture for primary schools in Malawi with Magis for the Clinton Hunter Development Initiative (2009-12). Asif has exhibited at MoMA, MAXXI Museum Rome, Idée Tokyo Midtown, Design Museum London, Sawaya & Moroni, Milano Salone ‘Satellite’, 100% Design Tokyo and London Fashion Week and has been featured widely in national and international press and design journals.

About The Architecture Foundation
Founded in 1991 as the UK’s first independent architecture centre, the Architecture Foundation is a non-profit agency for contemporary architecture, urbanism and culture. We cultivate new talent and new ideas. Through our diverse programmes we facilitate international and interdisciplinary exchange, stimulate critical engagement amongst professionals, policy makers and a broad public, and shape the quality of the built environment. We are independent, agile, inclusive and influential. Central to our activities is the belief that architecture enriches lives.