Giant Cat

Symbolism and Communication

For its unusual size and texture and it has communicated with people well above any structures in Catford. Despite a number of demolition attempts, successfully the cat earned popularity with the locals as it appears to survive much longer.

This is a good example of the physicality of a structure that has successfully defined its place rather than a story defines the place/ space.

The fiberglass giant cat was conceived by the brutalist architect Owen Luder who has built Catford Shopping Center where the cat belongs and also the Eros tower just across the street.

The giant cats rather crudely executed, it is not yet worthy of being noted as a significance of artifacts has become a cultural icon locally and become a front face of Catford for decades without people much bother about its origin or concept.

The cat has been erected at the gate of the shopping mall in 1974, two years after the influential book “Leaning from Lasvegas” by Venturi and Scott-Brown which defined the course of architecture in the next 20 years which manifests the role of communication in architectural vocabulary. No information on whether Luder may have read the book, good or bad the giant Cat for its significance has almost erased Catford’s past in some ways.

One of the greatest assets of Catford is its name, it has “Cat” in it. The project also explores “Cat” and connects with the contemporary Catford.

In the building project, by much exploited this unique asset 27,672 small cats are spread across the external and internal faces of the building to compete as well as compliment the giant cat of the shopping center.