Live-Build ‘Box House’ at Grand Designs Live
Studio Bark exhibited a Live-Build ‘Box House’ stand at Grand Designs Live, showcasing their U-Build system. The show was open between 4-12 May 2019 at ExCeL, as a part of National Custom and Self Build week.
Supplied by UPM Plywood, showcasing their ‘Biofore – Beyond Fossils’ approach, the Live-Build stand will be made of WISA-birch and WISA-spruce plywood due to their sustainability, clear chain of custody, reliability, strength, aesthetics and minimal waste.
The Live-Build structure at Grand Designs Live is designed to showcase the benefits of self-build. Studio Bark, together with Kevin McCloud and the visitors, continued making and adding modular U-Build components onto the stand each day to demonstrate its flexibility and functionality. Studio Bark also encouraged visitors to use Fologram’s AR headsets with transparent lenses to help self-build enthusiasts realise their potential within an immersive teaching environment. This was developed by Soomeen Hahm from UCL (BPro cluster 9) and her unit from the Bartlett.
U-Build is a modular flat-pack timber construction system which is easy to build, enjoyable to inhabit, uses natural materials and can be assembled by a small team, as it was demonstrated in an episode of Grand Designs: The Street on 25th April 2019 at 9 PM.
This system was developed by award winning architects Studio Bark with structural engineering from Structure Workshop and testing from Cut and Construct. U-Build aims to transform the way people think about buildings and the way they are built, by simplifying the construction process and enabling anyone to participate. Three years from conception, The Studio Bark team have now launched U-Build as a disruptive force in the construction industry.
The system uses precision CNC machining to create a kit of parts, offsite from a build, reducing waste on site, and allowing waste timber produced from manufacture an easy transfer to a specialist recycling facility (as opposed to timber waste on build site, which is often contaminated).
Visitors to the Grand Designs Live at ExCeL was able to see and interact with the U-Build system and WISA products in action. After the show in London, the Live-Build stand will be reconstructed for the second Grand Designs Live at Birmingham’s NEC in October. Following the second show in October, the components of the Live Build stand will be reused as part of a community and an affordable workspace project in London.
See more on Grand Design Live’s website about what Studio Bark was doing at the show.
Find out more about the WISA Plywood here.
Read about UPM Plywood’s Biofore – Beyond Fossils approach here.