The Smile shortlisted for IStructE Award

The Smile has been selected in the category for ‘Small Projects (of under £1million)’. ABA collaborated with The American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC) and Arup, whose Special Structures team in London described the project as ‘the most complex piece of CLT engineering in the world’.

The IStructE awards celebrate the role of structural engineers as innovative, creative design professionals and to showcase the world’s cutting edge engineering projects.

“The Smile represents the first use of large Tulipwood hardwood cross laminated timber (CLT) panels and has received worldwide acclaim for its effortless combination of structure and architecture. It was described as the happy face of the timber construction revolution and the centrepiece of the 2016 London Design Festival.

The Smile is 34m long, incorporating two 12m cantilevers – each designed to carry up to 60 people. In terms of structural demand, the Smile is similar to the cantilevering core stabilising a 4-storey building, and it resists torsional distortion effects in the same manner as a box girder bridge.”