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September 9, 2009

At the risk of sounding obsessed, the weird and wonderful Bompas and Parr boys are at it again. I’ve blogged about them a fair bit on here in relation to the Hendrick’s Carriage of Curiosities but, strange as that experience was, it is beginning to seem fairly workaday compared to one of their future projects.

From what I can make out, Bompas and Parr have got together with Courvoisier and launched a public competition looking for a new cocktail which uses the cognac. So far, so straightforward but then things go a bit mad. The winning cocktail will be used to fill something called the Architectural Punch Bowl.

Based at 33 Portland Place in London, the punch bowl will be so large that you can row a boat across it. Visitors to the installation will be invited to have a glass of the winning punch and even step on-board a rowing boat to scull across its surface.

This might sound insane but it’s not new. In 1694, the admiral Edward Russell created a punch bowl so large that it took 2,500 lemons to make the drink. It was served by a small boy in a boat.

Apparently,Bompas & Parr is currently working with UCL to research how the built environment can be transformed into a vast punch bowl. Pertinent questions include ‘How do you make a building food-safe?’ and ‘What technology can be used to keep a vast volume of drink chilled at optimum temperature?’

Mixologists, architects and members of the public are invited to submit proposals for the punch recipe for the Architectural Punch Bowl to www.jellymongers.co.uk by 5th October.  The only stipulation being that it must contain VSOP Courvoisier Exclusif.

Get mixing.