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
-
What is the role of fragrance in contemporary culture, asks a new exhibition at 10 Corso ComoMilan concept store 10 Corso Como has partnered with London creative agency System Preferences to launch Olfactory Projections 01
-
Jack White's Third Man Records opens a Paris pop-upJack White's immaculately-branded record store will set up shop in the 9th arrondissement this weekend
-
Designer Marta de la Rica’s elegant Madrid studio is full of perfectly-pitched contradictionsThe studio, or ‘the laboratory’ as de la Rica and her team call it, plays with colour, texture and scale in eminently rewarding ways
-
A Danish twist, compact architecture, and engineering magic: the Don’t Move, Improve 2025 winners are hereDon’t Move, Improve 2025 announces its winners, revealing the residential projects that are rethinking London living
-
This Hampstead house renovation in London transcends styles and periodsThe renovation of a Hampstead house in London by Belgian architect Hans Verstuyft bridges the classic and the contemporary
-
London’s Sloane Street has been transformed into a ‘green boulevard’Iconic shopping destination Sloane Street has had a facelift, now boasting wider pavements, enhanced seating and lighting, and a massive planting scheme
-
New book takes you inside Frinton Park Estate: the Essex modernist housing scheme‘Frinton Park Estate’, a new book by photographer James Weston, delves into the history of a modernist housing scheme in Essex, England
-
Conran Building's refresh brings a beloved London landmark into the 21st centuryConran Building at 22 Shad Thames has been given a new lease of life by Squire & Partners, which has rethought the London classic, originally designed by Hopkins, for the 21st century
-
Inside Powerhouse: The redevelopment of Lots Road Power Station, which once fuelled the London UndergroundThe twin-turreted building has followed in the footsteps of Battersea Power Station, being transformed into luxury homes and retail units
-
Sadler’s Wells East opens: ‘grand, unassuming and beautifully utilitarian’Sadler’s Wells East by O’Donnell and Tuomey opens this week, showing off its angular brick forms in London
-
2025 Serpentine Pavilion: this year's architect, Marina Tabassum, explains her designThe 2025 Serpentine Pavilion design by Marina Tabassum is unveiled; the Bangladeshi architect talks to us about the commission, vision, and the notion of time
