The world’s blackest pavilion

London-based architecture practice Asif Khan have unveiled their latest project, a super-black pavilion entirely coated in Vantablack VBx2 at the PyeongChang Winter Olym- pics 2018 in South Korea. The matt black material is able to absorb 99% of the light that hits its surface, diminishing its three dimensionality and creating the illusion of a startling black void in broad daylight. The facades of the pavilion are punctuated by thousands of tiny white lights which, during the day, simulate the view into space from that point on earth.

Inside the 35m x 35m structure, Khan has designed a vast ‘water room’ – a multi-sensory hydrophobic water installation which emits 25,000 singular water droplets every minute. Visitor interaction with a series of haptic sensors creates new rhythms as droplets continually collide, join, and split across the water landscape, which appears like a city viewed from space.