Timber Wave by AL_A
Landmark Project
17 — 25 Sept 2011
Architecture / Landscape, Industrial & Product Design, Materials
Victoria & Albert Museum
Cromwell Road
London
SW7 2RL
Award-winning architects AL_A and engineering firm Arup transformed the V&A Museum's Grand Entrance on Cromwell Road with the installation of a giant timber wave cascading down the steps, supported by American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC).
Built from oil-treated American red oak, Timber Wave was a three-dimensional latticework spiral, 12 metres in diameter, that employed construction techniques and materials normally used in furniture making to create a majestic three- storey-high structure. 'The brief was to respond in some way to the entrance of the V&A. For us it was about making very explicit the London Design Festival residency there,' said architect Amanda Levete of AL_A. 'We wanted to take the V&A out onto the street.’ The recurring structures within Timber Wave reflected the repeated motif style that is very much part of the didactic tradition of the V&A's own historic facade. The Grand Entrance in particular is vast, multilayered and very ornamental, and the design responded to this with a single dynamic form. Supported by The American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC) and Arup. Further support by SEAM and iGuzzini.
)
)
)
){kind=logo}
){kind=logo}
)
)
)
){kind=logo}
){kind=logo}
)
)
){kind=logo}
){kind=logo}
)
){kind=logo}
){kind=logo}
){kind=logo}
){kind=logo}
)
){kind=logo}
)
){kind=logo}
)
){kind=logo}
){kind=logo}
)
)
){kind=logo}
){kind=logo}