The Scroll is a new piece of public art by artist Gerry Judah and is the centerpiece of the House of Wisdom, an iconic library and Cultural Centre designed by international architects Foster + Partners. As principal contractor for this 36m-tall and 72 tonnes of crafted steelwork sculpture, RIMOND combined its innovative data-driven design technology solutions with construction expertise to bring the artist’s vision to life. The single, spiraling sculpture looping towards the sky included a laser-cut curved shell, created from rolled welded steel plates with a high-performance coating, to withstand the harsh climate conditions in the United Arab Emirates. Our in-house design team completed the construction design utilizing digital tools and applied advance form-finding geometry optimization techniques in just 3 weeks, a true feat for such a challenging project. In addition, we also developed an offsite pre-assembly strategy to minimize the construction site work, achieving safer working conditions and a greener footprint.

The client approached RIMOND for support in bringing the artist’s vision to life. A key feature of the sculpture is that there is no more than 150 mm (six inches) between the loops. The structure itself is extremely light and extremely stiff, in order to counterbalance the strong desert winds, and was achieved by a technique of monocoque construction developed by Gerry Judah and his engineers Diales. It was important to model how to achieve the artist’s design with structural integrity and within the logistical limitations that the construction site was offering.

RIMOND team worked closely with the artist and the manufacturers to investigate several versions of the sculpture in order to enhance the design with our data-driven advanced form finding skills while ensuring the structural integrity with digital tools and creating the greatest impact. We worked with the artist and manufacturers to eliminate as much risk as possible from the fabrication process, and we spoke with the local manufacturers to ensure they fully understood the nuances of the parametric design, ensuring that the artist’s vision was brought to life. We drew on experience from past steelwork projects to maximize the offsite manufacturing for the sculpture, fabricating larger sections in controlled factory conditions in order to achieve exceptional quality and reduce on-site work while improving safety.