Limitless publicity forecast for AHEC Endless Stair
5 September 2013The cross-laminated tulipwood components for The Endless Stair, the giant structure backed by the American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC) as part of the London Design Festival (LDF), have arrived in the UK – and the project is already attracting mainstream media attention.
The Endless Stair is the latest in a line of LDF projects involving AHEC as part of its international strategy for promoting the structural and design potential of American hardwoods.
It is being built outside the Tate Modern gallery in London and will be open for the public to walk around, and actually climb, for the duration of the festival from September 13 to October 10.
The 7.7m-high structure, designed by dRMM architects and engineered by ARUP, is being built by modular building specialists Nüssli of Switzerland in panels made in Italy by
Imola Legna.
After building a test flight in its factory, the Swiss company has delivered the components to site in four trucks and a team of eight engineers will erect the finished stair using a telescopic fork lift.
AHEC is anticipating widespread publicity for the project, as one of the main attractions of the LDF, and this week an artist's impression appeared in the mass-circulation London Evening Standard.
A perfect scale model in tiny sections of US tulipwood CLT is also being made for the Festival by Ray Winder, the sculptor behind the 2013 TTJ Awards trophies.
