Empress Sculpture, London |
Modern sculpture has become increasingly concerned with using architectural materials as a means of exploring space and surface. British sculptor Diana Edmunds has recently completed a commission in Earl’s Court, London which started life as a study of leaf forms, and evolved into a dramatic new interpretation of tensile architecture.
Edmunds’ blood-red sculpture strikes a strong visual contrast with the silvery-grey louvered facade of the Empress tower which stands behind. It is evident that her work is able to hold it’s own against this thirty storey backdrop, and indeed both forms appear almost co-dependent for their success. Edmunds started by making a series of small-scale study models, developing a pair of overlapping leaf-like forms which were pierced and supported by long reeds placed in a seemingly random manner. Her intention was that the various elements would appear to have been delicately assembled and positioned on the ground as if caught in the process of falling. Although the sculpture was always anticipated as being architectural in scale, her wish was to retain the essence of delicacy and movement evident in her development work.
Having established her concept, Edmunds worked with a team of consultants comprising architects Wilkinson Eyre, structural engineers Anthony Hunt Associates and tensile structure specialists Architen Landrell to devise a way of interpreting and building her design. The challenge for Architen was to develop a viable solution that respected Edmunds’ freeform models and yet provided a stable structure.
During a series of design workshops it became clear that the best way to ensure a high quality finish would be to assemble the wings and tension their membrane skins at ground level in a controlled off-site environment. This decision then unlocked the basis of the design, and also determined the maximum dimensions of the pre-fabricated elements which needed to be transported by road to the site. The 50ft long wings were given a 12” diameter spine to enable them to provide structural stiffness, and the location of the legs was developed to coincide with structural ribs placed at irregular intervals along the length of the sculpture. The intersections of the wing and legs were made into stiffened structural nodes that provided the sculpture with its overall rigidity. The ribs were tapered to enable the wing edges to be kept slender.
Architen’s construction sequence required the lower half of the masts to be fixed to the ground in their predetermined locations with total accuracy. The wings were then craned into position, allowing the collared nodes to ease onto the sleeved masts. Once rigidly connected, the upper masts were then slid into position, completing the illusion of the masts piercing the fabric. Finally, cast resin light fittings were incorporated into the chamfered mast heads to provide glowing tips.
It is probably true to say that an architect or engineer would never have designed this project in the form devised by Diana Edmunds. The mantras of construction design to rationalize geometry, simplify details and generally align elements would inevitably have resulted in a scheme that placed fewer pressures on 3d computing, mind-boggling fabrication and zero-room-for-error construction techniques. Ironically, it is through such arduous work that the structure has retained so much of the vitality that Edmunds recognized in her models and remained determined to see built.
