Cloud Ceiling

2019 IAA Outstanding Achievement Award

The client wanted to create a more enclosed luxury retail space while retaining a view of the iconic domed roof of the O2 London, one of the largest tensile fabric structures in the U.K. The result was a stunning suspended ceiling system made of 256 fabric fins set 1250 mm apart. The fins were created using a framework of aluminum extrusion and CNC-cut plywood slotted together in a jigsaw style to provide a rigid form for the fabric cladding. More than 17,000 sqm of lightweight blackout PVC-coated polyester was used to skin the fins on both sides, giving them a clean, white finish and concealing the inner structure. When viewed from the mall above, the ceiling looks like an undulating cloud; from below it reveals the O2’s original Millennium Dome tensile fabric roof above.

Architen Landrell Manufacturing Ltd.
Chepstow, Monmouthshire, U.K.
www.architen.com

Textile: PVC Coated Polyester, Mehler Texnologies GmbH  

Designer:Ceri Richards, CallisonRTKL Architects and Architen Landrell