OMC°C @ London Design Festival 2024
For the London Design Festival 2024 OMC°C in collaboration with Diez Office and the American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC) developed a version of VERD° SPACE made of American red oak. The temporary installation is located in the courtyard of Chelsea College of Arts. It can be visited during the Festival from September 14 to 22 and will remain for another three weeks after that.
In terms of construction and structural engineering, the LDF installation has been designed for the material wood. The lightweight structure is made up of slender beams that reinforce each other in triangular connections. It measures almost 10 metres in height, covers an area of 10 by 14 metres, and its plant sails span up to 10 by 3.5 metres. Apart from certified wood and biodegradable plants, the installation contains textile planters and nets made of flax, meaning that it consists of 80 % renewable raw materials.
The installation is intended to serve as an inspiration for architects, designers and city planners by providing an example of a sustainable, simple path to a cooler, greener city. Due to its striking aesthetics and the beauty of the material, it is a pleasing addition to the urban landscape and creates a cool, inviting space where people – in this case festival visitors as well as students and teachers from the College – can meet and relax. To support this usage scenario, hammocks made of the same orange nets that hold the planters are suspended from the structure on all sides.
The project team
Links and publications
Top of the tree (LDF, TF Chan, August 9, 2024)
Vert (AHEC)
Vert installation at London Design Festival serves as "garden for insects and people"
(Dezeen, Starr Charles, September 16, 2024)
Creating habitats (Stylepark, July 23, 2024)
Photo credits
All photographs on this page by Petr Krejčí, Petr&Co