Commissioned by hotel brand ME by Meliá, Zaha Hadid has created Crest, a temporary installation at the V&A Museum as part of the London Design Festival. After the festival, Crest will be taken to Dubai to be installed at the ME Dubai hotel.
Project description
Crest is an experimental sculpture that tests new design and construction technologies applied to a material of minimal thickness; investigating the relationship between formal arrangement and structural performance. Designed as a temporary installation which will remain at the V&A during the London Design Festival, Crest will then be taken to Dubai to be installed at the ME Dubai hotel
Zaha Hadid said of the installation, ‘Crest explores the relationship between surface and structure, transforming the planar water surface of the V&A courtyard’s pool into a curvilinear form, creating a compelling interplay with light and reflection. This experimental sculpture tests the limits and possibilities for a new construction technique involving the assembly of aluminium panels into a pre-stressed flat plate which is then lifted into a self-supporting structure. Crest is designed as a demountable sculpture to be installed at the ME Hotel, Dubai; establishing an intriguing dialogue with the formal dichotomy inherent within the hotel’s design.’
Melodie Leung, Associate, Zaha Hadid Architects says, ‘It’s a process that we’ve never done before, an experiment about achieving a precise form as thin as possible. This is the thinnest shell structure we have built to date’
Tony Cortizas, Vice President of brands for ME, said this morning ‘What Hadid has done is experimental and pushes the boundaries of her key design signature. This comes at a significant time for the brand, firstly with a slow move east to Dubai – which is set to become one of the most visited cities in the world within the next 20 years. Crest signifies a connection between east and west but the most exciting part of the story today is the design aspect which is a key defining part of our brand.’
Ben Evans, London Design Festival Director says ‘Working with Zaha Hadid, one of the world’s most famous architects has been fantastic, as is the setting in this magnificent space at the V&A – but what is most interesting is the growth of the project; what we see here today will evolve into a new form when it takes it’s place in the permanent home at the ME Dubai hotel in 2016’.
Commissioned by ME by Meliá
Designed Zaha Hadid and Patrik Schumacher (Zaha Hadid Architects)
Zaha Hadid Architects team: Melodie Leung, Peter Logan, Ovidiu Mihutescu
Structural Engineering by Buro Happold, Rastislav Bartek, James Solly
Fabricated by Lite Structures
Photography by Luke Hayes and Ed Reeve