New York design studio The Very Many, led by Marc Fornes, has designed a blue-and-yellow covering outside a leisure centre in El Paso, Texas.

The canopy, called Marquise, comprises hundreds of lightweight aluminium shingles that are cut to diamond-shaped panels and connected to leave small gaps in between.

The panels are arranged to form a curved self-supported structure, with a striped pattern on the underside and a chequerboard effect on top.
Hints of orange and pink are visible in the deep crevices, creating an overall colour palette based on the Texan environment.

"Playing off the fluctuations between warm and cool in the desert setting, the colouration saturates the palette of the surrounding landscape," said a statement from The Very Many.
The design comprises 240 panels in shades of blue ? "from a bright midday sky to a deep, clear dusk" ? and 280 yellow pieces that also vary in tone.

Marquise is positioned at the entrance to the Westside Natatorium indoor swimming pool in El Paso, providing a canopy that shields from both sun and rain. It is anchored by a pair of concrete bases so that it doesn't blow away, and which double as seats.

"A marquise is historically classified as a curvilinear steel and glass awning, attached to buildings or freestanding," said the studio.
"Seemingly inflated by the wind, as a tent or sail, the ultra-thin surface billows up from the ground, where it forms two contiguous seats: cast in place concre...