Case Study
Big Blue is a Ron Arad designed architectural sculpture which is installed in canary Wharf. The sculpture is a 13.5m diameter truncated ellipsoid, which sits over a skylight to an underground shopping mall, and is supported on an eight metre diameter glass wall.
Although the sculpture looks simple, it contains a fairly complex internal structure, which was designed to spread the six tonne mass and the high wind loads which can be developed around the support points to avoid overloading the glazing.
The lamination was carried out using a high Tg hardener to avoid any print through on the gloss surface finish, as the dark blue colour of the sculpture results in high surface temperatures when exposed to the sun.
The sculpture was manufactured on the Isle of Wight, and then shipped by barge to London, where it was then lifted and moved into position.
