2008 David Adjaye: Scelera

In a unique collaboration with The American Hardwood Export Council, architect David Adjaye created the pavilion Sclera for 2008's Size + Matter installation. Constructed from tulipwood, the structure blurred the boundaries between architecture, design, engineering and sculpture. Adjaye's interpretation of the meaning of Sclera as a 'space from my viewpoint' resulted in an elliptical pavilion whose airiness and freedom was further emphasized by the lightness of the timber construction.

'I'm known for working with timber,' said Adjaye. 'I was chosen to make this pavilion because of that but I said that I wanted this very special timber. Tulipwood is a renewable hardwood that is used more as a background material than for finishing and details because of its wide discolouration. Manufacturers can't assure the colour, and designers are afraid of using something that is not exactly as the sample chip of wood they are shown. This is ridiculous. The pavilion is a way of showing how you can enjoy tulipwood's variety and quality - it's about how we look at natural products...

'The pavilion is part of an ongoing discussion with myself about materiality, light and space. It's another iteration dealing with the merging of construction, space, detail, ornament. It's based on one overlapping construction detail - an overlap and a gap - and it's about how to use a single material, how to modulate light, how to use ornament.'

Sclera was exhibited at the Southbank Centre for a month from mid September 2008 where it was viewed by over one million people.

'This has been an extraordinary project for us. We were delighted when David Adjaye chose American Tulipwood - a wood normally associated with more mundane applications. This project shows it literally in a new light and the result is spectacular.' David Venables, European Director, American Hardwood Export Council.