Using the landscape of the Museum as a test site, the V&A invited nineteen architects to submit proposals for structures that examine notions of refuge and retreat. Responding to specific locations in the Museum, the architects explored themes such as study, work, play, performance and contemplation. Seven of the proposals were then selected for construction at full-scale.

These projects promoted an attitude to architecture where to 'dwell' meant something more than simply to find shelter. Each building invited the participation of the viewer. These immersive environments reawakened people's ability to inhabit architectural space on both a physical and an emotional level.

A delicate canopy hovers above the visitor, allowing a mixture of natural and artificially projected light to filter through the layers of the structure. The ever-shifting patterns of light and shadow evoke the dappled light cast on to a forest floor during the late afternoon sunlight of a lazy woodland walk.