This is one of those things that starts out really cool and ends up making you kind of frustrated, like learning that hot barista you like is a libertarian. Artist William Lamson has built a 99-square-foot greenhouse out of sugar panels. But you can’t actually LICK the sugar panels, because in a cruel twist (or, uh, simple architectural necessity), they’re sandwiched in between glass. Why?! IS LIFE NOT HARD ENOUGH?
Ahem. Read:
Like a mountain chapel or Thoreau’s one-room cabin, Solarium references a tradition of isolated outposts designed for reflection. Each of the 162 panels is made of sugar cooked to different temperatures and then sealed between two panes of window glass … In warm months, a 5×8 ft panel on each side of the house opens up to allow viewers to enter and exit the house from all directions. In addition to creating a pavilion like environment, this design references the architecture of a plant leaf, where the stomata opens and closes to help regulate the plants temperature.
Storm King commissioned Solarium for the 2012 Light and Landscape show. Each sugar panel is a different color, thanks to the various temperatures (whether they taste different, we’ll never know). I guess it’s like “arty” and stuff. That’s cool, but what am I supposed to eat for dessert?
