PROJECT: Downland Gridshell

LOCATION: Weald & Downland Museum,
Sussex, England

DATE: 1996 - 2002

ECA collaborated with structural engineers, Buro Happold, and the Green Oak Carpentry Company to develop this innovative, low energy structure. The gridshell was formed from a flat lattice of green oak that was lowered into a three-dimensional shape with the use of gravity.

The lower level, the Archive, serves as the Museum's storage, administration centre and exhibition hall. Sunken into the ground, it protects its contents from weather changes using minimal energy. The upper level, the Workshop, is the space for the Museum's carpenters to restore and build the timber frames that will go into the Museum's many collected buildings.

For further information visit the Museum's website or read CABE's online case study