Impression of how the AI installation could look near the Piccadilly Theatre [Acryliciz]

“IT makes no sense!”

That’s the analysis from the Soho Society of a piece of an Artificial Intelligence-designed steel tube art installation a company wants to put up permanently above the roofs in Denman Street, opposite the Piccadilly Theatre.

The “London Forest” public art, part of a planning deal between Westminster City Council and developer Landsec, has been created using a futuristic algorithm in “a conversation between technology and nature”.

The design team said the tree branch-like artwork will “unfurl across the two exposed gables like something caught mid-flight in the breeze” and provide a “dramatic silhouette”.

But the Soho Society has objected, arguing: “The concept – ‘the urban landscape being reclaimed by nature through artificial intelligence’ – makes no sense. This objective would be better met by installing further greening. Aim appears to be to attract attention to the adjacent development rather than to enhance the conservation area or provide public benefit.”

The society added that “potential light pollution” could have an impact on residents opposite the building and questioned whether the city council was actually committed to the “climate change emergency”.

According to the planning documents, the artwork would take the form of an AI-designed installation on the theme of “London is a Forest”.

It would be made out of aluminium or steel tubes of differing diameters and “finished in a range of greys to contrast with the brickwork behind”

“The installation is intended to represent either a leaf caught in the breeze, or ivy growing out of, and up, the walls and around the chimney.”

A council report said “the theme and method of design are topical” and installation was “visually engaging and of an appropriate scale for its location” and met policy targets in the city plan.

“The Soho Society’s suggested “greening” of the wall for environmental purposes is noted but this would be contrary to the objectives of the original condition, which was imposed to secure public art.”