The Heart Tent

17/10/2011 Written by: Gavin Thompson No comments

When your technical skill lies in the world of building environmental design - where pipe and wire meets architecture, where kilowatt-hour meets human comfort - finding an inspiring image that defines your craft is something of a challenge. My mentor, Tony McLaughlin, was once introduced to an audience as the only engineer who possessed the skill necessary to draw relative humidity, but even Tony's powers struggle to graphically express the design elegance we strive for.

If building environmental design were a structure then there would be no problem - our digital photography archive is bursting with fantastic images. If I were to choose one of these images then it would be the heart tent. Set within the walled courtyard of the Tuwaiq palace in Riyadh it melds both function - providing shade, architecture - echoing the flowing form of the building, art - its panels are of stained glass and engineering efficiency - its tensioned cable net provides an elegant support system.