Hackney Orb celebrates the essential theme of dwelling. Its timeless form and contemporary/vernacular construction recalls the nomadic yurts of Central Asia, the snow house igloo of the Arctic Inuit, and other enduring icons of human settlement. At the same time, as a new, plastic version of ‘Adam’s house in Paradise’, it extends the western tradition of architecture’s ‘primitive hut’.
The shell is made of flat panels, pre-cut and predrilled on site, then hauled into position and joined to their neighbours through hinges. Hackney Orb is made of sturdy, up cycled post-consumer plastic. Strengthened and remanufactured without significant reprocessing,the material combines green plastics (Recycled Plastic Sheet Moulding) and fibre-reinforced composites.Hackney Orb is lined with a Mylar space blanket, a low-weight blanket made of heat-reflective thin plastic sheeting, which rustles with the wind and shimmers in the sun. The structure is a selfsupporting collection of flat panels rigidly assembled into a closed, synclastic surface (a surface curved towards the same side in all directions) with good structural properties. It supports itself and handles comfortably the stresses and displacements.
Hackney Orb // Location: Hackney, London Competition: The Antepavilion Commission 2017 Client: Art House Foundation,sponsored by Shiva Ltd Collaboration: IJP Corporation Structure Engineered Consultant: AKT II Headline image: Paolo Grungo