Designers: Future Systems

The Size + Matter project pays homage to the reciprocal inspirational relationship between design, materials and space. Two top female architects have been asked to choose a material and push it to its limits, aiming to blur the boundaries between architecture, design, engineering and sculpture. DuPont™ Corian© has been chosen by Amanda Levete (Future Systems) for an installation that is dramatic both in imagination and scale. Located on the Southbank outside the Royal Festival Hall, it takes the form a curving "wall" 8.5m wide x 19.5m long x 4.4m high made up of approximately 220 interlocking, thermoformed "leaves" made of Corian® (set into a plinth made from DuPont™ Zodiaq© quartz surfaces).

Amanda Levete: "Working closely with the project teams for Arup and DuPont™ Corian©, we have been able to create a form that pushes the material to its structural limits while exemplifying the established properties of Corian© for aesthetic purity, flowing geometry and translucent effects. In order to achieve this within the constraints of the maximum size for thermoforming, we have approached the installation through a number of smaller, self-similar, flowing elements that interlock to create a gently curving wall which rises and falls in response to the loads upon it. Our installation also exploits the translucent properties of the material by playing with the relationship between solid and void, introducing subtly changing light effects on the surface which are inspired by the dappled light through a leafy canopy."

Female basins for Scott's in Mayfair, designed by Future Systems, www.future-systems.com. Fabrication techniques used were three dimensional CNC solid Corian block carving & thermo-forming using three dimensional formers.

Male basins for Scott's in Mayfair, designed by Future Systems, www.future-systems.com. Fabrication techniques as for female basins.

Crustacean (fish display unit) for Scott's in Mayfair, designed by Future Systems, www.future-systems.com. Fabrication techniques as for basins, with internal drainage system.

Corian waiter trolley for Scotts in Mayfair, London by Future Systems, CNC carving and thermoforming.
www.future-systems.com