United Visual Artists - Charles Darwin Exhibition
03/06/08

United Visual Artists approached us to help visualise and construct their "Darwin Canopy" sculptural ceiling at the Natural History Museum. The design for the Darwin Canopy covers the entire existing ceiling with an abstracted ecosystem composed of panels of plant-like forms, which appear to grow from the surface of the building, competing for the available light.

Click on the images below to view enlargements of the 3D prints used in UVA's exhibit (you can move between each by clicking on the left and right edges of the enlarged image, or using left and right cursor keys).

Balancing the complexity of the design with the available budget they chose to create molded panels interspersed with three-dimensional forms printed on ThingLab's 3D Systems Projet HD 3000 rapid prototyping machine. Sections needing finer detail were bonded to the relief boards to create added complexity, with the entire boards then being coated and treated. This hybrid manufacturing process allowed United Visual Artists to balance the complexity of the design with the budget.

Read the exhibition brochure here (pdf format).