BBC Studios have moved their historic HQ to a new site in the city centre. The new site features 3 floors of offices and we worked to create two very special joinery installs in the reception area.
The Concept
The concept was to use layers of 27mm Binderholz Spruce engineered board to create a sculptural and organic 3D wooden shape.
The installation was first modelled in 3D software to create the unique design. Each of the 13 ribs is different and each rib is divided into 4 sections, creating 52 unique parts. We had to come up with a numbering system to avoid confusion!
The design looks like layers of wood have been stacked on top of each other, however this would be extremely heavy and very wasteful of material. Instead we constructed a hollow base frame with slots for the ribs to sit in.
Every part of the install was machined in our workshop. After a bit of experimenting we found that the best way to machine Binderholz Spruce was with a 8mm up/down compression cutter. We would machine with a roughing pass before a finishing pass to aid work holding and improve the surface finish.