Designs on tulipwood

The tulipwood pavilion supplied by The American Hardwood Export Council as one of the ‘installations’ for the London Design Festival was officially opened by Festival director Ben Evans last week.

The 12m-long, 4.5m-high pavilion was designed by architect David Adjaye and comprises 50m³ of American tulipwood finger-jointed and laminated boards – a total of 1,500 sections.

The building was engineered, produced and erected by timber structure specialist Hess Wohnwerk of Germany which also transported it to its site next to the Royal Festival Hall in four trucks.

Mr Evans described the pavilion as a key part of the London Design Festival, which "celebrates design in all its guises".

“It will challenge perceptions about materials and show both a public and professional audience what timber is capable of,” he said.

AHEC European director David Venables said that the building highlighted that tulipwood, generally seen as a 'utility' joinery material “could be used externally and structurally”.

“It performs very well in this sort of application and, as it’s one of the most prolific American hardwood species, it’s the kind of timber we should be making the most of, for both environmental and economic reasons.”

David Adjaye said that he had become “obsessed with the surface and grain patterns” of tulipwood and was looking at designing other structures in it.

“Previously I’ve only used wood decoratively and for interiors,” he said.

The pavilion, which is treated in an Osmose ‘primer oil’, will stay in place until October 16. It will then be auctioned.