A Garden Canopy Evolves in Response to the People Inside

In the garden of London's Victoria & Albert Museum stands the Elytra Filament Pavilion, a 2,000-square-foot canopy named for--and designed after--a beetle's elytron, the insect's fibrous, double-layered forewings. In the months ahead, the structure will adapt and grow in response to the people who visit it. By looks alone, the pavilion is imposing. But its engineering is even more impressive. The modules weigh just 99 pounds apiece, putting the entire structure in the neighborhood of 5,400 pounds--or about the same weight as just 21 square feet of the museum's stone facade.