Chill in the air.This month the Royal Air Force Museum proudly opens the National Cold War Exhibition at RAF Cosford. Housed in a purpose-built hangar, designed by Feilden Clegg Bradley, the exhibition includes 17 original aircraft from the Cold War era and seven 'hotspots' that house multimedia presentations. Derived from the original exhibition title, Divided World--Connected World, the building is one of the architect's most formally arresting buildings, and presented a number of significant structural challenges in relation to wind loads and loading capacity for exhibits that weigh up to 13 tonnes each. Working with engineers from the Michael Barclay Partnership, the steel structure consists of a central spine, 25m high and 135m long, braced by two opposing hyperbolic paraboloids hyperbolic paraboloid n. A surface of which all sections parallel to one coordinate plane are hyperbolas and all sections parallel to another coordinate plane are parabolas. . At 8.4m centres, set on two triangular plans, each of the straight steel truss truss, in architecture and engineering, a supporting structure or framework composed of beams, girders, or rods commonly of steel or wood lying in a single plane. rafters steps out to create a graceful curve that sweeps down from 90 degrees at the spine to 25 degrees at the gable gable Triangular section formed by a roof with two slopes, extending from the eaves to the ridge where the two slopes meet. It may be miniaturized over a dormer window or entranceway. ends. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] While the architect's original concept was enticingly en·tice tr.v. en·ticed, en·tic·ing, en·tic·es To attract by arousing hope or desire; lure: The promise of higher pay enticed me into the new job. See Synonyms at lure. clear, based on tensions and divisions of two opposing ideologies, the loss of the proposed concrete spine dramatically reduced the potency potency /po·ten·cy/ (po´ten-se) 1. the ability of the male to perform coitus. 2. the relationship between the therapeutic effect of a drug and the dose necessary to achieve that effect. 3. of the organisational diagram. As a result, the interior is now read as a single volume with little or no tension between each 'opposing' side, and there is a sense that the exhibition design has failed to fully exploit the opportunities offered by the building. Despite this, the overall effect is dramatic and awe inspiring. The internal environment is comfortable. Lighting has been extremely well handled. And, long views make up for the lost opportunity to exploit spatial division. For those who grew up with Airfix models suspended above their beds, the experience will be especially appealing. Gone is the thread and Blu Tack, however, with this installation being undertaken by the inventively in·ven·tive adj. 1. Of, relating to, or characterized by invention. 2. Adept or skillful at inventing; creative. in·ven named expert rigging rigging, the wires, ropes, and chains employed to support and operate the masts, yards, booms, and sails of a vessel. Standing rigging is semipermanent, consisting mainly of mast supports, the fore-and-aft stays, and the stays running from the masthead to each side company, Unusual Rigging. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] www.nationalcoldwarexhibition.org.uk |
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