Softwood may have been the material of choice for timber architecture up to now, but hardwood has just made a dramatic entrance. 'It is simply the most challenging thing that has ever been built in cross-laminated timber [CLT]… anywhere,' says Andrew Lawrence, an associate director at Arup, about the gravity-defying 34m-long cantilevering curved tube devised by the American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC), London-based architects Alison Brooks and Arup for this year’s London Design Festival.
The Smile, as the project is known, eschews the usual European spruce for a fast-growing tulipwood from North American forests, that has been transformed into 12 huge cross-laminated panels ('the largest hardwood CLT panels ever made', says Lawrence) and is held together by 6,000 long steel screws.
'Almost every architect we talk to says we love CLT but we don’t like the look of it!' says David Venables, European director of AHEC. The organisation has been experimenting with hardwood structures for some years now and believes the material offers the same weight and density as softwood but twice the strength and a far more appealing aesthetic (fewer knots and a classic tight timber grain).
Hardwood may cost more, acknowledges Venables, but you also need to use less of it. 'In the future we will see panels where three of the layers are softwood but the outer layers are tulipwood, for instance,' he says. 'And we will see it used in higher-end buildings where appearance really matters,' adds Lawrence. 'What’s so fun about designing in wood,' he adds, 'is that architects and engineers have to work really closely together and the way a structure is made and engineered becomes part of the architecture.'
Even more exciting is the fact that CLT is carbon neutral, sustainable (the 240 cubic metres of tulipwood used to create this particular ‘flying pavilion’ were replaced in less than five minutes) and, in the words of Alison Brooks, 'connects us back to nature in a way that is not nostalgic or rustic. It’s a material of the future.'
Set outside London's Chelsea College of Art and Design, the sculpture eschews the usual European spruce for a fast-growing tulipwood from North American forests, that has been transformed into 12 huge cross-laminated panels held together by 6,000 long steel screws
'It is simply the most challenging thing that has ever been built in cross-laminated timber [CLT]… anywhere,' says Andrew Lawrence, an associate director at Arup, about the gravity-defying 34m-long cantilevering curved tube
Softwood may have been the material of choice for timber architecture up to now, but 'The Smile' sees hardwood make a dramatic entrance
The AHEC has been experimenting with hardwood structures for some years now and says the opportunities offered by hardwood are the same weight and density but twice the strength and a far more appealing aesthetic than softwood
'What’s so fun about designing in wood,' says Lawrence, 'is that architects and engineers have to work really closely together and the way a structure is made and engineered becomes part of the architecture'
INFORMATION
’The Smile’ is on view until 25 September. For more information, visit the London Design Festival website
ADDRESS
Rootstein Hopkins Parade Ground
Chelsea College of Art and Design
16 John Islip Street
London, SW1P 4JU
-
The return of the bullhead: the watch design that refuses to conformLittle known outside of watch circles, but enthusiastically collected within them, bullhead watches have always been divisive. Identified by the crown at 12 o’clock, it made design sense – no digging into the wrist, allowing easier function as a stopwatch - but remains a speciality. But now, the bullhead is back
-
Tour Peridot, Hong Kong’s hypnotic new barLocated on the 38th floor of The Henderson, Studio Paolo Ferrari’s latest project is a study in ‘light, refraction, and intimacy’
-
Lighting designer Andi Watson on creating Mitski’s sculptural stage for 'The Land'In Mitski’s live show and new concert film, a single beam of light becomes her dance partner. Lighting designer Andi Watson discusses turning shadow, movement and restraint into the architecture of feeling
-
Meet Forefront, a cultural platform redefining the relationship between art and architectureForefront co-founder Dicle Guntas, managing director of developer HGG, tells us about the exciting new initiative and its debut exhibition, a show of lumino-kinetic sculptures in London
-
Corten curves and contemporary flair transform this terraced house in LondonCagni Williams Associates’ sensitive refurbishment of a south London Edwardian house features a striking and sustainable Corten steel extension
-
You may know it as ‘Dirty House’ – now, The Rogue Room brings 21st-century wellness to ShoreditchThe Rogue Room – set in the building formerly known as Dirty House by Sir David Adjaye, now reinvented by Studioshaw – bridges wellness and culture in London's Shoreditch
-
The architectural innovation hidden in plain sight at Frieze London 2025The 2025 Frieze entrance pavilions launch this week alongside the art fair, showcasing a brand-new, modular building system set to shake up the architecture of large-scale events
-
RIBA Stirling Prize 2025 winner is ‘a radical reimagining of later living’Appleby Blue Almshouse wins the RIBA Stirling Prize 2025, crowning the social housing complex for over-65s by Witherford Watson Mann Architects, the best building of the year
-
‘Belonging’ – the LFA 2026 theme is revealed, exploring how places can become personalThe idea of belonging and what it means in today’s world will be central at the London Festival of Architecture’s explorations, as the event’s 2026 theme has been announced today
-
Join us on a first look inside Regent’s View, the revamped canalside gasholder project in LondonRegent's View, the RSHP-designed development for St William, situated on a former gasholder site on a canal in east London, has just completed its first phase
-
The Royal College of Art has announced plans for renewal of its Kensington campusThe Royal College of Art project, led by Witherford Watson Mann Architects, includes the revitalisation of the Darwin Building and more, in the hopes of establishing an open and future-facing place of creativity
