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MK40 Tower

Timber tower as artwork for Milton Keynes Gallery

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Bauher*innen: Milton Keynes Gallery
Status: Completed
Standort: Milton Keynes, UK
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Nutzung: Cultural
Tagged: Collaboration, Digital Manufacturing, Engineered Timber, Sustainability Exemplars

Kollaboration

Structural engineer Price&Myers

Milton Keynes Gallery (MK-G) invited us to design a temporary artwork to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the city of Milton Keynes.

Our response was a tower that would allow visitors to discover unique views across the buildings and trees, offering a conceptual contrast with the predominantly horizontal city.

We were also keen to use the structure as a chance to test the possibilities of cross-laminated timber. To this end, the tower uses different types of staircase to prove the equivalent of a seven-storey timber building core.

Kollaboration

Structural engineer Price&Myers
01 No glues, just screws

The result is a freestanding structure prefabricated in sections made of 162mm-thick cross-laminated timber that required no foundation and was therefore possible to erect in less than seven days. No glue was used in its construction, only screws.

At the topmost level, a platform at a height of almost twenty metres offered panoramic views of the city and the landscape beyond.

At the base of the tower stood a temporary coffee bar. In searching for maximum efficiency in energy and materials, we created the coffee bar from the shipping container in which the timber elements of the tower were stored. The interior of the coffee bar was lined with the work of artist Richard Woods, and giant window opening shapes from the top of the tower – ‘M’ ‘K’ ‘4’ and ‘0’ – were used as furniture for the public square.

At the end of the project, the container was used to store and transport the tower, ready for reuse on other sites.

MK40 Tower

No glues, just screws

Cross laminated timber construction [3]
CLT wall coupling plates
[1] CLT wall coupling plates
MK40 base construction
[2] MK40 base construction
Flat pack CLT construction
[3] Flat pack CLT construction
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MK40 tower assembly
2/4
CLT spiral staircase
3/4
Looking up
4/4
Looking down
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MK40 tower assembly
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CLT spiral staircase
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Looking up
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Looking down
02 Useful art

The fast construction process and unusual form, dominating the square in front of MK-G, attracted a great deal of local interest, with thousands of people climbing the 101 wooden steps to get a view out over Milton Keynes.

In common with dRMM’s other cultural works (such as Endless Stair or The Future is Here exhibition) MK40 Tower can be seen as ‘useful art’, actively engaging with the public and furthering the possibilities of structural design.

An accompanying exhibition documented our realised projects and research in engineered timber construction techniques, spreading the word about the benefits of building in timber.

MK40 Tower
Concept model, completed tower
MK40 Tower
Top of Tower
1/4
Shipping container café
2/4
Collaboration with Richard Woods
3/4
Café furniture made using CLT offcuts
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MK40 Tower
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Shipping container café
2/4
Collaboration with Richard Woods
3/4
Café furniture made using CLT offcuts
4/4
MK40 Tower
Assembly

Preise

2008
Best Small Project and Best Use of Panel Products
Shortlisted
2008
Best Structural Project (LABC Built in Quality - National Awards)
Winner
2008
Best Public or Community Project (LABC Built in Quality - Central Region Awards)
Winner

Verwandte Projekte

MK40 Tower

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MK40 Tower

Alex de Rijke

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