The award winning Downland Gridshell – the first double layer timber gridshell in the UK – was built as a workshop and storage area for the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum, an internationally renowned centre for the restoration of historic buildings. Following a brief to combine the best of modern engineering with traditional craft skills, this inspiring building highlights Buro Happold’s talent for innovative design using unique construction methods and sustainable materials.

The £1.8m project, supported by a Heritage Lottery fund grant, attracted considerable interest among both visitors and the international architectural and engineering community due to its remarkable construction. The 48m building is enclosed by a two-layer triple-bulb shaped gridshell consisting of oak laths interconnected by metal nodes, specially developed by Buro Happold for the project. Sunk into the chalk hillside, the bottom part of the structure, which is used as an artefact store, is able to utilise the thermal capacity of the ground to stabilise environmental conditions.

Date: 1996 - 2002