DRIFT employs luminous drones to visualize speculative architecture

imagining the improbable

‘What would the Sagrada Familia look like if it was finished?‘ Asks Amsterdam-based studio DRIFT, ‘Imagine a full circle Colosseum…‘ The Dutch artist duo presents the results of its efforts to improve its drone software to create real-life, life-size visualizations of famous architectural landmarks should they be restored or completed.

Using aerial sculptures, installations and performances, the multi-disciplinary team works together to transform space with ethereal works of luminous art. The team tells designboom: ‘All individual artworks have the ability to transform spaces. The confined parameters of a museum or a gallery does not always do justice to a body of work, rather it often comes to its potential in the public sphere or through architecture.’

images © DRIFT | @studio.drift

drones harnessed into light shows by drift

DRIFT made their first performative art installation in 2017, a drone show dubbed ‘Franchise Freedom.’ This installation premiered at Art Basel Miami 2017, followed by performances all over the world. Besides this performative art installation, the Dutch studio produced many more, renowned across the globe.

In collaboration with the company Drone Stories and Nova Sky Stories, DRIFT has used their drone technology since 2020 to reimagine the future of architecture. It is the aim to assist architects to bring their future projects to reality in a mesmerizing yet sustainable way, visualizing what this life size would look like.

project info:

studio: DRIFT | @studio.drift

collaborators: Drone Stories, Nova Sky Stories