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abstract
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V&A SPIRAL EXTENSION

The Spiral vaults into new space. Inside is outside. Floors are denied columns and walls offer no shortcuts for gravity. Structure and architecture become one immediacy. A new kind of tiling, a fractal – the basis of Balmond’s piece Fractile designed for the extension breaks the surface up all over in a mathematical mosaic, revealing a complexity that is born out of deep simplicity; only three tile shapes produce an endless articulation around the form, an ancient code. The Spiral’s walls act as a wrapping, laid out as a strip, placed on the tiled pattern, which climbs as it also fold, with no roof. It is finite but unbounded.

Location:
London, UK
Collaborators:
Daniel Libeskind, Francis Archer, Daniel Bosia, Arup AGU
Completion:
Concept 1996
Built Area:
12,000 sqm
Program:
Permanent galleries, exhibition spaces, and education facilities
Client:
Victoria & Albert Museum

abstract