What do Facebook, sci-fi authors, boarding schools, and English houseboats have in common? That's right, they're all really into garden rooftops, an increasingly common amenity once reserved for the rich and ecostylish. English artist Beth Derbyshire spearheaded efforts to build this rather lovely ark—sorry, moving sculpture—as an homage to the complex cultural heritage of the UK's Lancashire region, wrangling seven artists to spend three weeks in different Lancashire towns and interview hundreds of people about their connection to the parks and the land.
To represent what they learned about the region—a ready-made mix of the natural/familial with the decayed industrial—the artists hulked a standard Lancashire home atop an industrial barge, with a grassy roof to symbolize the meadows sprouting up by accident in the region's forsaken quarries. "The Ark," as the installation is called, will float down the Leeds and Liverpool Canal through June, stopping at communities along the way.
The beautiful carved interiors have an Islamic textile pattern to represent the region's immigrant population. According to the project description, The Ark is a direct response to the artists' cultural findings, "celebrating the industry that had such an impact on the area, championing the culture of the immigrant communities that came to work in industry whilst also encouraging people to explore their surrounding landscape."
· The Ark - A Wooden House Floating on a Boat by Beth Derbyshire [Design Boom]