Design studio Spacon & X created a runway installation for Danish fashion brand Stine Goya, centred by six towers of sand that collapsed as models walked by.

The show was held during last year's Copenhagen Fashion Week to present Stine Goya's Whisper Loud clothing collection, and its runway has since been shortlisted in the installation design category of the 2023 Dezeen Awards.

Spacon & X's runway installation was created with 20 tonnes of sand

Spacon & X had previously worked with the brand on the set design of its Autumn Winter 2022 show, for which it erected huge screens that digitally displayed different elements of nature.

For the Whisper Loud show, the studio instead wanted there to be a "physical manifestation" of the natural world – so it decided to put 20 tonnes of sand to use.

The sand was compressed into square blocks and then stacked to form towers

The sand was taken from a small town north of Copenhagen called Hundested, having already been used in its annual sand sculpture festival.

It was then sent to TAP1 – the venue which hosted the Stine Goya show – and compacted into wooden boxes to form large, square blocks.

Piles of sand beneath the towers helped hide vibrating wooden platforms

These blocks of sand were stacked into tall towers, with each block separated by a small layer of cornstarch dyed shocking pink with biodegradable food colouring.

A total of six towers were made and placed atop heaps of sand in the middle of the runway.

As the platforms shook, the towers collapsed to the ground

The piles of loose sand concealed wooden platforms that could be set to vibrate via remote controls backstage.

These were activated as the models began walking, breaking down the towers and revealing their bright-pink interior to the crowd.

Read: Ice-block pavilion Falling Hours functions as a giant hourglass

"The audience did not know it was about to happen, so it was set to inspire a reaction and a conversation," explained the studio.

After the show, the sand was re-donated to TAP1, where it will be used for outdoor landscaping.

Inside each tower was a layer of shocking pink cornstarch

Spacon & X's set for Stine Goya's Whisper Loud show will compete against four other installations at this year's Dezeen Awards.

This includes the Falling Hours pavilion by BIAD, which is built out of blocks of ice, and Muoto's Ball Theatre – a shiny, hemispherical stage designed to "reawaken our desires for utopia".

The photography is by Hedda Rysstad.