Installation for RIBA Awards ceremony

Young architects from RSHP create installation for RIBA Awards ceremony

Jack Newton, Ben Nicholls and Chris Wilkinson from Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, together with Matt Hill and Steve Westcott, were invited to create an installation for the RIBA National and International Awards Dinner, held at the London Hilton on Park Lane on 27 June 2008.

The striking piece they produced is called 'Exercise One: Kite Assembly' and is a 24 metre-long installation, made of a carbon fibre frame and tensioned nylon screens. It was produced by Kite Related Design and was suspended from the ceiling of the Hilton ballroom. The installation consists of 47 kite elements set out across the space of the ballroom between the eight existing fixing points, on an 8 x 5 grid. The total size of the installation is 24 metres long by five metres wide.

The team said of the installation: "Our work stems from the idea of accumulation, the creation of a texture that can grow in space. The system is based on the proliferation of a tiny three-dimensional motif. Each module, as part of a larger whole, possesses dimensions and qualities typical of the industrial product. The whole structure breaks the conventions of scale, and imposes itself on the scale of the architecture of the Hilton's Grand Ballroom."

Each of the kite elements is constructed from three fabric sheets held in tension by a 6 x 4 mm diameter carbon fibre rod frame which - with an approximate weight of 750 grams per element - can be easily held with one hand. The connecting joints of each of the elements are situated on different planes so the construction can grow in different directions within each of the spaces.  The material also makes the form flexible. 

The work will be on display at RIBA Headquarters at 66 Portland Place during the summer.  Dates to be confirmed shortly.

For further information on the installation please visit www.exerciseone.co.uk