News
June 10, 2009
What do Angels & Demons and TRADA have in common?
The visitor centre at CERN, the world's largest particle physics laboratory, has never been busier. To coincide with the launch of the film
Angels & Demons, based on the Dan Brown bestseller, it opened an exhibition on antimatter - the science behind the film. Visitors however will be equally impressed with the visitor centre itself - a timber dome on the scale of St Peter's in Rome.
The impressive 40m x 27m visitor centre is the tallest timber domed structure in the world and is one of the buildings featured in the Reusable and adaptable wood structures: Sustainable solutions for a changing world, published jointly by TRADA and wood for good.
In its original location at the Swiss Expo in 2002, the Palais de L'Equilibre - to give the dome its original title - handled 1,000 visitors per hour. The globe was designed by Group H architects, working with structural engineers Charpente Concept.
It is built from timber recycled from the Swiss Pavilion at the 2000 Hanover Expo, including Scots pine, Douglas fir, spruce, larch and Canadian maple, which enables the building to act as a carbon sink. In fact, Swiss forests produce about 700m3 of timber per hour, so the volume of timber in the structure represents only about three hours' production. The building was recycled one more when it was moved to CERN.
TRADA Head of Marketing and Information Services Jeremy Vibert said, ‘The CERN visitor centre is a spectacular example of recycling. The book features many interesting studies of buildings large and small, demonstrating that the construction industry is getting better at recovering materials from demolition. Re-using existing structures is less expensive and less wasteful and a good habit which is spreading.'
Timber lends itself to reuse, he added. ‘It's simple to assemble and take down, and easy to move. On sustainability grounds, wood is second to none, and recycling a wood structure makes an even stronger environmental contribution.'
All TRADA members received a copy of the publication when it was first published, but further copies are available to members free of charge. Non-members may purchase a copy for £25.00 plus P&P.
Click here to visit the TRADA Bookshop
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