Charlotte Fernández
UKIMEA Press Office,Leeds
An innovative Landmark Project for this year’s London Design Festival, The Smile aims to transform the way architects and engineers approach timber construction.
In collaboration with the American Hardwood Export Council, Arup has worked with Alison Brooks Architects on the design which combines the latest innovations in timber – tulipwood cross-laminated timber (CLT), self-tapping screws and CNC machining – to show how rapid prefabrication is revolutionising timber construction.
The structurally demanding but playful installation is made from 12 of the largest panels of hardwood CLT ever made, six of them pre-curved during the production process. The project is the culmination of 15 years of research between Arup and the American Hardwood Export Council into the use of hardwood in construction.
Despite being designed to carry as many as 60 people at one end, Arup’s timber specialists worked hard to develop an incredibly simple structural design that could be built on site in just five days. The Smile is not just an experimental structure; turned on end it is like the stabilising core of a five storey building and as such, it is the most slender timber core ever built.
“The Smile is the most challenging structure ever constructed in CLT. Every aspect is pushed to the absolute limit.
- Andrew Lawrence, Associate Director, Arup
The Smile, on the parade ground at Chelsea College of Art until 12 October, is part of Arup’s continued support of the London Design Festival which is also visible in our involvement in the Circular Building, a prototype designed for all the elements to be dis-assembled and re-used, and Barber & Osgerby's "Forecast” at the inaugural London Design Biennale.
For more information on The Smile please visit www.thetulipwoodsmile.info