Holy Crap
Opening Party
Antepavilion will celebrate the completion of this year's winning installation, Holy Crap, Chapel of Scrap, with a public launch party on Saturday 1 August 2026, 18:00–midnight, at Hoxton Docks, E2 8BD.
The evening will see the official unveiling of Holy Crap, as well as an exhibition of all shortlisted and submitted competition entries. There will be food and a bar with DJs and music through the night. Each ticket includes a free drink.
About the Structure
Constructed in the barge Ouse, Holy Crap is structure frozen in its scaffolding stage where the scaffolding itself becomes the ornamentation. While the exterior appears somewhat chaotic due to the crisscrossing structural ties and supports, the interior is more understated.
Holy Crap was inspired by medieval construction methods, bonded entirely by rope lashing, and fulfils the 2026 Antepavilion brief as it’s constructed entirely from reclaimed and recycled materials. The scaffold is made from laminated Red Louro cladding reclaimed from a residential building following the Grenfell Tower fire. Sheets made of recycled Tetra Pak form the chapel’s vaults.
In designing Holy Crap, architect Bobby Esposito drew on his experience growing up gay in a Catholic environment. The structure is a statement on reclaiming peace and solitude without the subservience to any higher power; whether it be a God or – in the case of Antepavilion’s longstanding fights with the local authorities – a city council