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From display structures to housing prototypes — the exhibition "Scaffolding" explores the possibilities of the underappreciated tool

Noémie Despland-Lichtert

Often underlooked, if not ignored, scaffolding populates our cities and offer a flexible, modular, accessible and fast method to build structures. Curated by independent researcher Greg Barton,   the exhibition  Scaffolding  at the Center for Architecture in New York (October 2, 2017 – January 18, 2018), examines the history, contemporary applications and endless possibilities of scaffolding. The installation is designed by Shohei Shigematsu and OMA New York, with graphic design by MTWTF.

Exhibition picture. Image courtesy of the Center for Architecture. .

Curator Barton says "Scaffolding functions as a noun and verb, object and process. It is commonly invoked as a powerful metaphor by many disciplines due to its supportive role and adaptive qualities.” The exhibition   explores the possibilities of this building method beyond construction sites as way to enable civic engagement.

Exhibition picture. Image courtesy of the Center for Architecture. .

Drawing the history of the construction technology,  Scaffolding, looks at wooden sticks in European middle age, the use of bamboo in Asia and more recently the use of industrialized steel and aluminum sticks. It also presents contemporary chosen scaffolding projects from across the world, including display structures, housing prototypes, and participatory self-build schemes. Among the chosen examples, you’ll find the work by students at Vienna University of Technology,  SelgasCano ’s project in Kenya and housing prototypes in India.

Peter Fattinger, Michael Rieper and students from the Vienna University of Technology, Institute of Architecture and Design, SELFWARE.surface, 2003, Graz, Austria. Photograph © Michael Schuster, courtesy the architects.

OMA New York created a large scaffolding installation throughout the galleries serving as a display structure. The “exhibition infrastructure” occupies all the galleries of the Center for Architecture. It links the different spaces through one structure and expands the exhibition onto the streets, completely transforming the space and appearance of Center for Architecture. The installation also includes a set of periscopes allowing to see the exhibition from the street.

Exhibition picture. Image courtesy of the Center for Architecture. .

“I am thrilled that the Center for Architecture will be temporarily 'under construction'. It is exciting to experiment with the flexibility of scaffolding systems as an exhibition environment,” says Shohei Shigematsu, Partner-in-Charge at OMA New York. 

Exhibition picture. Image courtesy of the Center for Architecture. .

With an estimated 280 miles of scaffolding in New York City at any given time, the exhibition attempts to create alternative uses for the structural framework and a new appreciation. 

The exhibition is part of  Archtober , a month-long festival of architecture and design events in New York.  

Exhibition picture. Image courtesy of the Center for Architecture. .

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Role of Scaffolding in Architectural Projects: Ensuring Safety and Efficiency

scaffolding projects architecture

Scaffolding is an integral component of architectural projects, serving as a temporary structure that provides support, access, and safety for construction, renovation, and maintenance work. Whether it’s a small residential project or a large-scale commercial development, scaffolding plays a crucial role in ensuring the safety of workers and enhancing project efficiency. In this article, we will explore the significance of scaffolding in architectural projects and highlight the importance of hiring reputable scaffolding specialists, particularly when it comes to scaffolding hire in Croydon . These specialists are well-versed in the local regulations and requirements, ensuring optimal safety and functionality throughout the duration of the project.

Safe Working Environment

One of the primary functions of scaffolding is to provide a safe working environment for construction workers, contractors, and other professionals involved in the project. Scaffolding structures are carefully designed and installed to support workers at various heights and allow them to access different areas of the building. By providing a stable and secure platform, scaffolding minimizes the risk of falls, accidents, and injuries, ensuring the well-being of the workforce.

Also Read: The Vital Role of Architects in Utilizing Building Materials

Access and Mobility

Scaffolding enables easy access to different parts of a building, allowing workers to carry out their tasks efficiently. Whether it’s painting, bricklaying, window installation, or other construction activities, scaffolding provides a stable and elevated platform from which workers can work comfortably. This eliminates the need for ladders and enhances productivity by reducing the time and effort required to move equipment and materials between different levels of the structure.

Structural Support

Architectural projects often involve extensive construction, renovation, or maintenance work that requires workers to access various parts of a building simultaneously. Scaffolding provides the necessary structural support for these activities, distributing the weight of workers, tools, and materials evenly. This prevents undue stress on the building’s structure and ensures stability throughout the project. Scaffolding specialist assess the requirements of the project and design scaffolding structures that can safely support the specific needs of the work being carried out.

Flexibility and Adaptability

Scaffolding is a versatile solution that can be customized to meet the unique requirements of each architectural project. Scaffolding specialists have the expertise to design and erect scaffolding structures that fit the specific dimensions, shape, and complexity of the building. They can accommodate irregularities, obstacles, and changing project needs, ensuring that workers have safe access to all areas. This adaptability facilitates efficient construction processes and allows for seamless progression of the project.

Compliance with Safety Regulations

Working at heights presents inherent risks, and adherence to safety regulations is of utmost importance. Scaffolding specialists are well-versed in safety standards and regulations, ensuring that the scaffolding structures meet all necessary requirements. They conduct thorough inspections, perform regular maintenance, and implement safety measures such as guardrails, toe boards, and harness systems. By hiring reputable scaffolding specialists, architectural projects can meet compliance standards, reduce liability, and prioritize the safety of workers and the public.

Scaffolding plays a vital role in architectural projects, ensuring safety, efficiency, and productivity. By providing a secure working environment, facilitating access to different areas, offering structural support, and complying with safety regulations, scaffolding enables construction, renovation, and maintenance work to be carried out effectively. When undertaking architectural projects in Croydon or any other location, it is crucial to hire reputable scaffolding specialists who have the expertise to design, erect, and maintain scaffolding structures that meet the unique requirements of the project. By prioritizing safety and efficiency through the use of scaffolding, architectural projects can be executed successfully while ensuring the well-being of all involved.

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Scaffolding

The exhibition at the Center for Architecture, Scaffolding, on view from October 2 through January 18, explores the transformative potential of scaffolding, a pervasive but often-maligned element of New York City. The show examines the history and extraordinary applications of scaffolding as a kit-of-parts technology to provide novel forms of inhabitation and access. The exhibition demonstrates how the ubiquitous architectural system lends itself to compelling installations, positioning it as a pragmatic tool for radical architecture and civic engagement. Presented in the Center’s disparate gallery spaces across three levels, OMA New York’s design will disrupt the architectural space through an installation of an exhibition infrastructure, instilling new perspectives of scaffolding and its transformative potential.

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What to see in new york art galleries this week, oma explores the potential of scaffolding in new york exhibition, from display structures to housing prototypes — the exhibition "scaffolding" explores the possibilities of the underappreciated tool, see the transformative power of 'scaffolding,' a disruptive installation at the center for architecture, procuratie vecchie, uic center for the arts, prospettiva - journey through the archives of fondazione fiera milano, dior: from paris to the world, prada epicenter new york, astor place hotel, manifesta 12 the planetary garden: cultivating coexistence, west louisville food port.

Holland Green

Manus x machina: fashion in an age of technology, repossi store, lehmann maupin gallery – hong kong.

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  • Nature & Ecology
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  • Indian Subcontinent
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Ateya Khorakiwala

Architecture’s scaffolds.

scaffolding projects architecture

Scaffolding erected around a concrete building in Mumbai circa 2003 for maintenance. Photo: Ateya Khorakiwala.

In Mumbai, a city permanently under construction and repair, bamboo scaffolding is ubiquitous. The city, with its concrete and brick architecture, is engulfed in humidity that possesses a violent capacity to invade the most solidly engineered materials. In these continually deteriorating conditions, it is common practice to erect scaffolding around a large building to continually plaster cracks and treat surfaces. Bamboo is everywhere. Yet in spite, or perhaps because of its ubiquity, bamboo is rendered invisible. By habit alone, pedestrians tend to see straight through it when it engulfs a building, and when it comes down, forget it ever existed.

The architectural profession’s interest in sustainability has brought the material of bamboo into focus. Bamboo is a kind of grass, one that refers to a number of species which have different physical properties—the Forest Survey of India lists about one hundred and twenty five different indigenous species to the subcontinent. Bamboo culms reproduce at a rapid rate, owing to their rhizomatic structure; a property that fulfills the Bruntland Commission’s definition of sustainable, in that in using it, we do not deplete it. 1 It can quickly regenerate. This capacity for seemingly boundless growth is central to the imagination of bamboo as a material perfect for a regime of sustainability. Within the architectural profession, sustainability has emerged as a technoscientific and managerial concept, giving architecture’s social project a new purpose enmeshed in designing buildings while regulating quantitative metrics of emissions and carbon footprints. 2 Yet rather than encapsulating these more technical aspects of sustainable architecture, bamboo merely embodies a material and an aesthetic image of sustainability; that it is in and of itself sustainable.

In 2010 architect Shivdatt Sharma designed a bamboo museum for the Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology at Palampur in Himachal Pradesh. The project intended to showcase bamboo as an indigenous bioresource and the multitude of ways in which it was being harnessed. Funded by India’s Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the museum is located on the campus of a government institution that researches the economic potential of bio-technological commodities and informs both lawmaking and market-related decisions around them. 3 Sharma, a senior architect working in India, first cut his teeth in Chandigarh in the 1950s under Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret. Vikramaditya Prakash writes of this recent project as rehearsing the tenets of this early modernism in its modular structural geometries. 4 Yet the single storied structure, designed and built completely of bamboo, presents itself as a kitschy artifact that is part of its own collection of display objects.

scaffolding projects architecture

Shivdatt Sharma, Bamboo Museum , Palampur Himachal Pradesh, 2009-10. Images courtesy Shivdatt Sharma.

Sharma’s museum is not unique in the twenty-first century. It follows in the tradition of a number architects in Asia and Africa using the material to develop an architectural language that responds to contemporary ecological and political concerns. Shigeru Ban used bamboo ply in the structures of his Expo Pavilion in Hanover (2000), the Rice Pavilion Roof (Rice Gallery, 2002), as well as in some designs for refugee housing. More recently, Patrick Kéré designed the Lycée Schorge Secondary School (2016) in Burkina Faso, where bamboo’s unevenness as a tube became a feature to let in light through the walls. In innovating with bamboo where other materials are unavailable or expensive, both Kéré’s and Ban’s work reflects the oft-repeated mantra of bamboo as the poor man’s timber. Ban’s formal dexterity is in his ability to take a material associated with poverty and use it to signify luxury. But perhaps more than anything, current architectural interest in bamboo reflects a certain trend in which architects, tired of engaging the failed developmental dreams of high modernism, have discovered a new material with new significations of vernacular and historical meaning with which to play in our unsustainable times. 5

While Ban’s use of bamboo traffics in tropes of recalibrated tradition, Sharma’s bamboo museum embodies a paradoxical emergence that has come to be ubiquitous in our contemporary sustainability regime: that a material, upon being imagined as and deemed a sustainable alternative, is then extracted and farmed with the violent and destructive rationalities of capitalist management and efficiencies. For bamboo and scaffolding are perhaps more a social relation rather than a material. How do materials exist as a result of the histories of their use rather than purely as a set of physical properties? How has bamboo developed into an accessible material through decades of interaction with the people who use it?

Even as architects draw upon bamboo as a sustainable material, they confront a conflict between scalability and sustainability. Bamboo, Bambusoideae , is traditionally circumscribed as a “heterogenous group of mostly perennial, rhizomatous forest grasses.” 6 A subfamily of the grass family ( Poaceae ), bamboo describes a group of species of grasses that share similar characteristics. In addition to being a biologically diverse set of species, bamboo is also a culturally vital material that permeates the food, dance, architecture, and everyday lives of people in Asia. 7 Anna Tsing has shown how certain social relations, particularly those that are biologically and culturally diverse, are inherently non-scalable: “Scalability is possible only if project elements do not form transformative relationships that might change the project as elements are added.” Because “transformative relationships are the medium for the emergence of diversity,” they are strained by operations that demand relational stability across growing scales. 8 Bamboo, at the small scale is foraged material, but foraging as a method of procuring the material cannot be sustained if bamboo is to scale up to supply to the world a sustainable commodity. What histories of bamboo do architects need to contend with, if they are to engage the material in any way other than through the dominant technoscientific discourse of supply management?

scaffolding projects architecture

Bamboo, jute, and wood scaffolding erected for the construction of the masonry Nagarjuna Sagar Dam on the Krishna River, circa 1958 taken for the American publicity magazine, As India Builds , published 1961. Image courtesy United States Information Services, New Delhi.

Material Histories

In the early decades of India’s independence and postwar developmental economy of the 1950s and 1960s, bamboo embodied an aesthetic of scarcity, the traditional and labor-intensive material upon which the modern state was built. Similarly, it presented the ingenuity of the vernacular, the material of a cottage industry with the possibility of producing a large-scale modernity from the small-scale of the village artisan. Bamboo thus simultaneously offered the opportunity for an alternate modernity while paradoxically representing a backwardness. Today, continuing this paradoxical relation, even as bamboo is increasingly important in the construction industry, its signification is only economically valuable through its use in sustainable-chic commodity production.

The 1986 Festival of India exhibition on architecture revealed the contradictions that were present in developmental thought and its representation of bamboo scaffolding. In its catalog Vistāra , architect Charles Correa described the attempt to overlay the various plural heritages of architectural thought in the subcontinent and look at them together from the vantage point of the present. 9 The exhibition, as Arindam Dutta has argued, offered the fiction of historical continuum through the juxtaposition of fragments; metonymic of the frictionless cultural content of a nation. 10 In the catalog, the intellectual and political hinge between the colonial architectural period and the modern and contemporary one was provided by the intellectual trifecta of Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, and Jawaharlal Nehru. Of the three, Vistāra narrated Nehru’s developmental legacy with a photograph of massive bamboo scaffolding paired with a fragment of one of his speeches given at the opening of an irrigation canal.

The huge construction of bamboo and wood scaffolding in the image eclipsed the purportedly larger construction of a dam behind it, foregrounding instead the labor involved in the making of this behemoth. In the catalog, the image was paired with a fragment of a quotation by Nehru, “…the biggest temple and mosque and gurudwara is the place where man works for the good of mankind…” which suggested that any site of a faithful labor is akin to the site of prayer. The quotation, familiar to many as Nehru’s analogy between the dam and the temple, was made in different iterations of laboring with faith at the various inaugurations of the flagship Bhakra Nangal multipurpose dam project. Yet the subtle deception in this image is that the scaffolding was not an image of any of the construction that took place at the Bhakra Nangal project site. The dam in the image was the Nagarjuna Sagar dam, a masonry dam—not a concrete one—on the Krishna River, which relied heavily on unskilled labor to carry quarried stone up the scaffolding to aggregate the mass.

The Bhakra dam, which was the centerpiece of the state of Punjab’s techno-political water management plan—the same state whose capital city would inaugurate Indian modernism in the following section of the said exhibition catalog as Le Corbusier’s Chandigarh—was careful to hide its reliance on manual labor in its propaganda images. Technocrats writing about the concrete technology used in the dam painstakingly describe why the structural and geographic conditions of this construction demanded a mechanized steel system of concrete placement, reminding readers that bamboo and labor-based projects were inefficient for growing economies and expensive in the long run. 11 The Vistāra catalog was, however, invested in signifying vernacular development—bamboo as a hinge between modernity and tradition—without acknowledging the contradictions those significations trafficked in, a tendency that was synecdochic of 1986 catalog as a whole.

Vistāra , in this juxtaposition of text and image, was caught in this double bind of desiring the technomodern fact of a big dam while also representing the under-developed and labor-dependent third-world economy. Bamboo, in an image where no dam was evident, played this double role. On the one hand, its staggering mass signaled the organization and construction of something equally staggering behind it, and on the other, it reminded the viewer of the scarcity of capital-intensive machinery and the desperate overpopulation of the country. The juxtaposition of the quotation and the image sutured the abyss between the present and the future, between Nagarjuna Sagar and Bhakra, where from an indigent current state, a massive surplus was to be generated. The quotation spliced the hopeful modernity of concrete technology into the developmental optics of labor and scaffolding.

scaffolding projects architecture

Bamboo and jute joints for building renovation scaffolding in Mumbai, 2018.

Alternative Aesthetic Registers

Is it obvious that bamboo should represent the unmodern? In 1952 Nehru penned a letter to his Chief Ministers critiquing ostentation and ceremony in government using an example of a Gandhian conference at Sevagram. Nehru described being struck by the “extreme simplicity and artistry” of the conference pandal made of bamboo and covered in leaves. 12 He went on to praise the simple dignity of bamboo in comparison with the ostentatious traditions of British political ritual that India had inherited with its bureaucracy. He concluded his letter arguing that “we are a poor country and we must always avoid unnecessary or wasteful expenditure,” but connecting bamboo’s signification of poverty with “a question of taste and it does not appear fitting to me that some of us should function in a way which is so utterly removed from the conditions in India.” For Nehru, the aesthetic of scarcity was signified by bare bamboo scaffolding, but he hoped that bamboo could also come to signify an aesthetic and a moral beauty. These multiple contexts both worked to position bamboo against the technocratic modernity of concrete.

Yet, as much as bamboo was being reimagined as the necessary traditional model on which to construct the modern state, a substitution of labor, it was also being written into another narrative: that of the cottage industry. Yojana , the mouthpiece of India’s planning commission, mentioned the material a number of times as a site for the state’s investment in small scale businesses where artisans could turn the material into handicrafted commodities. A 1967 article recounted the story of Balanarasimha, a man who saw his income trebled, after being sent to a six-month training program by the Nalgonda Project Authorities. 13 This training at the All-India Handicrafts board in Patna taught him to make “sophisticated bamboo products.” This skill-upgrade, along with a financial mechanism—a small loan—turned the semi-skilled artisan into a skilled artisan-entrepreneur.

In the 1960s, even as bamboo was being imagined as a small-scale material of cottage industries, it was being deployed in the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) laboratories across the country. CSIR, the same institute that sponsored and now houses Shivdatt Sharma’s bamboo museum, was instituted as an autonomous body under the central government that governed a set of laboratories doing applied research for the state’s modernization projects. Laboratories like the Central Building Research Institute (CBRI) and the Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) investigated the uses of bamboo in developing indigenous reinforcement for concrete, called bamboocrete, and agricultural levelers and road sections all using this material accessible in the third world in lieu of traditional materials of modernity like steel. The conceit was that if the third world could wield bamboo in the way in which the first world wields steel and concrete, then perhaps the third world could instantiate a non-derivative modernity. These various instrumental uses of bamboo came to be a Nehruvian (developmental) interpretation of the Gandhian (village level) model of production, one that imagined itself as completely separate from the labor and construction industry.

Nehru’s suggestion of simplicity as a material embodying tastefulness was in contrast to the American portrayal of bamboo as a material that captured the burden of development to be extracted on the backs of the masses. Of course, the key piece of Nehru’s observation was that bamboo was and continues to be used to construct complex and “modern” infrastructure. Alternately, towards the Gandhian side of small-scale production, a bamboo initiative at the National Institute of Design (2012) and a bamboo laboratory at IIT-Mumbai (2007) were recently created. Both premier institutes work with various governmental agencies across the country to develop models for the manufacture of bamboo products that integrate design, artisanal techniques, and scalability.

scaffolding projects architecture

Dampa Tiger Reserve, Mizoram, India. Photo: Sudhir Shivaram.

Excess as Crisis

Ironically, the very thing that makes bamboo sustainable—its capacity for rapid growth—is what has led to environmental devastation. In Mizoram, a state in India’s northeast region bordering Myanmar and Bangladesh, the Mizo hills are covered in thick bamboo vegetation. Bamboo flowers gregariously, which means that all the culms of a particular species flower together. The hills are dominated by two species: mau, which flowers approximately every thirty years; and thing , which flowers every forty-seven. Flowering triggers a spike in rodent populations, which thrive on the explosion of seeds. This high volume of rats then proceeds to devastate rice harvests, causing famine. This odd ecological cycle is well known to the Mizo people, who have long lived with bamboo as a material of everyday life, and mautam or thingtam causing foreseeable death. 14

When the anticipated mautam arrived in 1956, after India’s independence, there were no famine safeguards in place and the Indian government mobilized no effective relief efforts. The failure of the state to address the famine galvanized insurgent political movements. Mizoram was then still a part of the state of Assam (today, India’s largest supplier of bamboo), and it was after the famine that separatist tendencies emerged and found popular support. What began in the late fifties as the Mizo National Famine Front later transformed into the Mizo National Front and continues to hold political power in the state, which separated from Assam in 1972. 15 Here, the very property that makes bamboo sustainable—its capacity for rapid growth—is what makes it dangerous—to both the people and the state.

Bamboo is a silvicultural commodity; it is forest produce. As a forest commodity, bamboo was shaped by colonial and postcolonial forestry, which entailed the bureaucratic scientific management of the vegetative category of the forest. “Forest” delineates neither a scientific category nor an administrative one, and so to interrogate the history of forestry, we are forced to acknowledge the forest as a discursive category, a space constructed by practice. 16

K. Sivaramakrishnan, writing about colonial forestry in India, argues that the imperial exercise of developing colonial infrastructure led to the necessity to think the forest as a category from which to extract timber. Forests were thus named as such to integrate them into commercial economies and develop rules for their management. The German botanist Dietrich Brandis was appointed as Inspector General of India’s Forest Department in 1864 and was instrumental in creating a scientific bureaucracy around the different plants and produce in forests. 17 Brandis toured India’s forests extensively, writing reports which were used to develop protections and regulations around their use. Forest Services saw their subject through a commercial logic what James Scott calls “the fiscal forest”—that is, a forest that is commercially productive at the expense of its ecological diversity. 18 The central tension animating forest management was the right of the government over uncultivated forest land and the customary rights of any locals using that same forest land. As a result, the Forest Act, written in 1927, first largely consolidated existing rules around specific commodities into one central document, and second, was specifically written to manage this tension between the commercial and customary use of forests.

In 2006, a new Forest Rights Act, which attempted to secure the rights of villagers and forest dwellers, declared the sub-family of bamboo a “non-timber-minor-produce,” a categorization that would allow villagers and locals access to the forest and shield them from the Forest Act, which prevents any commercial use (however small the scale) of silvicultural commodities. The new act was written by advocates for forest dwellers and it attempted to recognize rights that were already in play rather than create new rights. The law came afoul of the sustainability community who forced edits and compromises to the act to the point to which it was rendered toothless. In 2015, when Menda Lekha, a tribal village in Maharashtra took over control of the bamboo in their forests, the forest department refused them transport rights to cart the minor forest produce. This subversion of the Forest Rights Act led the villagers to protest by holding a market “illegally” selling their bamboo. 19

As of 2011, India’s Ministry of Environment had asked states to treat bamboo as a minor forest produce (MFP), and in December 2017 the word bamboo was eliminated from the governmental description of trees. As a result, bamboo is no longer regulated by the forest act. This debate over the classification of bamboo reflects the idea that a material as a social relation occupies a different register than as a scientific one. Yet in 2018, a Draft National Forest Policy framed the forest in all its various meanings—commercial, replanted, sanctuaries, livelihood, and so on. It remains to be seen whether the policy will recognize rights of people or further wrest them away.

Bamboo’s modernity is in contrast to that of a material like plastiglomerate—an aggregate of stone, nylon, cement, and other debris that come together to form a new material symbolic of our emerging global climate fused with our regimes of production and disposal. Plastiglomerates are a product of the anthropocene, a new material emergence at a geological scale. 20 In contrast, bamboo tends to be considered traditional—its material properties don’t necessarily reveal it as a product of our contemporary political economies. However, it is a thoroughly contemporary and modern material, as complex and new as any other.

scaffolding projects architecture

Scaffolding for Ganeshotsav , Mumbai, 2006.

Bamboo in the Streets

In the 2010s, the architect Rahul Mehrotra proposed the idea of the kinetic city—an idea celebrating the dynamism of a city like Mumbai, which physically changes for short periods of time. Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav , the public celebration of the deity Ganesh, celebrated in August/September every year, was a central example of “kineticism.” On the first of the ten-day festival, self-organized neighborhood groups pool together their time and resources to bring a deity to their neighborhood. There, over the next ten days, they host the deity in the street, taking it over by enclosing it in bamboo, jute, cloth, and plastic. Bamboo, and its complicated colonial history, is a key material of kineticism. Festivals, celebrations, meetings, talks, all depend on bamboo tents and structures to modify the city temporarily for it to then revert to its brick and concrete form.

The festival marks a performative politics that uses the street as its site of play; the street is a privileged space of politics and aesthetics in India. A number of academics have taken on this question on the street as the elemental form of the Indian spatial imagination—they have described the use of the street alternately as a space in which to exert power in an increasingly neoliberal real estate regime, or as a space that has its own unique cultures and rhythms. 21 Crucially, the street is also a space that demonstrates class—it is the domain of the poor. 22 Rather than celebrate the ephemerality of Indian cities, bamboo is critical to a political understanding of the street as a site of an ephemeral political economy in which developers can disappear, leaving a trail of incomplete construction without warning at the first signs of a real estate crash. 23 Here, bamboo isn’t just of value because of its flexibility and strength, but because of the historical knowledge embedded in its use as scaffolding and the networks of trade that tie together the city and the forest. Bamboo scaffolding, for all the discourse on its use as a traditional material, is actually a sophisticated system of knot tying and support making—a skill passed taught by laborers to each other, as to the distances between posts and struts, the methods of attaching them to buildings, and the details of how to turn them into roofs.

The metaphor of grassroots is apt here. Bamboo is a grass, a rhizomatic plant system that easily tends towards becoming an invasive species in its capacity to spread without seed and fruit. Given the new incursions of the global sustainability regime into third world forests to procure a material aestheticized as eco-friendly, what would it take for the state to render this ubiquitous material into a value added and replicable commodity? On one hand, scaffolding offers the site of forming and performing the subjectivity of the unskilled laborer—if not in making the scaffolding, then certainly in using it. Bamboo poles for scaffolding remain raw commodities, without scope for much value addition; a saturated marketplace where it can only be replaced by steel as building projects increase in complexity. On the other hand, bamboo produces both the cottage industry out of a forest-dwelling subject, on the margins of the state, occupying space into which this market can expand.

Bamboo is a material in flux—what it signifies is not transferable from one scale to another, or from one time to another. In that sense, bamboo challenges how we see the history of materials. In addition to its foundational architectural function as scaffolding, it acts as a metaphorical scaffolding as well: it signifies whatever its wielders might want it to, be it tradition, poverty, sustainability, or a new form of eco-chic luxury. Bamboo acts more as a scaffolding for meaning than a material with physical properties of flexibility and strength. Scaffolding, both materially and metaphorically, is a site of politics; a space that opens up and disappears, one that requires much skill in making.

Gro Harlem Brundtland, “Our Common Future: Report of the 1987 World Commission on Environment and Development” (Oslo: United Nations, 1987), ➝ .

Panayiota Pyla, “Counter-Histories of Sustainability,” Volume 18 (December 7, 2008), ➝ .

“Welcome to the IHBT Cyber World,” ➝ . Also, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) was a product of the early post-independence development project. The CSIR came into being in 1942 when the urgent need for supplies towards World War 2 revealed India’s shortfall of industrial commodities. The CSIR is an independent centrally funded body that has been crucial in setting the tone of scientific research in the post-World War 2 period. See Ateya Khorakiwala, “A Black Carpet of Bitumen; Public Works as Research, India c. 1960” ( Unpublished ).

Vikramaditya Prakash, The Architecture of Shivdatt Sharma (Ocean, NJ: Mapin Publishing Gp Pty Ltd, 2013).

Question answer session of a talk given by Anooradha Iyer Siddiqi entitled Dadaab: Architecture and History in a Refugee Camp , JJ College of Architecture, Mumbai, July 31, 2018.

Weiping Zhang and Lynn G. Clark, “Phylogeny and Classification of the Bambusoideae (Poaceae),” in Grasses: Systematics and Evolution: Systematics and Evolution , eds. S. W. L. Jacobs and J. Everett (Csiro Publishing, 2000), 35.

The immense cultural history of bamboo use in Asia is outside of the scope of this paper, but an overview of the uses of bamboo can be found in G. K. Ghosh, Bamboo: The Wonderful Grass (APH Publishing, 2008).

Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, “On Nonscalability: The Living World Is Not Amenable to Precision-Nested Scales,” Common Knowledge 18, no. 3 (September 19, 2012): 505–524.

Charles Correa in Carmen Kagal, Vistara: The Architecture of India, Exhibition Catalogue, Festival of India in U.S.A. (Festival of India, 1986), 8–12.

Arindam Dutta, “Politics of Display: India 1886 and 1986,” Journal of Arts and Ideas 30–31 (1997): 115–145.

“Concrete Manufacture Handling and Control at the Bhakra Dam,” Indian Concrete Journal 31, no. 8 (August 15, 1957): 241–249.

A pandal is a combination of an awning of posts and cladding (for instance bamboo and cloth) made to create a temporary shelter, under which a large group of people can meet. Jawaharlal Nehru, The Essential Writings of Jawaharlal Nehru Volume 2 , eds. S. Gopal and Uma Iyengar, vol. 2 (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2003), 720.

J. L. Saaz, “Nalgonda Prject; Breakthrough in a Rocky Tract,” Yojana 11, no. 22 (November 12, 1967).

While fifteen thousand people died in the 1881 thingtam , there are no good estimates of mortality for the corresponding 1910-1912 the mautam . See Sajal Nag, “Bamboo, Rats and Famines: Famine Relief and Perceptions of British Paternalism in the Mizo Hills (India),” Environment and History 5, no. 2 (1999): 245–252; and Ken Aplin and James Lalsiamliana, “Chronicle and Impacts If the 2005-09 Mautam in Mizoram,” in Rodent Outbreaks: Ecology and Impacts (International Rice Research Institute, 2010), 24.

Arthur J. Dommen, “Separatist Tendencies in Eastern India,” Asian Survey 7, no. 10 (1967): 726–739, ➝ .

K. Sivaramakrishnan, “Colonialism and Forestry in India: Imagining the Past in Present Politics,” Comparative Studies in Society and History 37, no. 1 (1995): 3–40.

David Arnold, Science, Technology and Medicine in Colonial India (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 148.

James C. Scott, Seeing like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999). 14.

Aparna Pallavi, “Forest Titles Only on Paper,” Down to Earth: Science and Environment Fortnightly , 2015, ➝ .

Meredith Miller, “Views from the Plastisphere: A Preface to Post-Rock Architecture,” in Climates: Architecture and the Planetary Imaginary , eds. James Graham and Caitlin Blanchfield (New York, NY: Columbia Books on Architecture and the City, 2016), 67–78.

Arjun Appadurai, “Street Culture,” The India Magazine 8 (December, 1987): 2–23.

Dirk van den Heuvel, “Cross-Pollination in the Doshi Habitat - A Report from Ahmedabad,” DASH 12/13, 2015.

Namita Dharia, “Introduction to The Industrial Ephemeral,” in Aesthetics, Power, and Political Economy in Modern South Asia (47th Annual Conference on South Asia, Madison, Wisconsin, 2018).

Overgrowth  is a collaboration between e-flux Architecture and the Oslo Architecture Triennale within the context of its 2019 edition, and is supported by the Nordic Culture Fond and the Nordic Culture Point.

Ateya Khorakiwala is assistant professor at the University of British Columbia in the Department of Art History, Visual Art, and Theory. She researches the aesthetic and material history of architecture and infrastructure, focusing on postcolonial India’s built environment as a site of governmental knowledge inflected by the politics of design.

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World’s largest Scaffolding projects, Safety Considerations for mega projects

As skyscrapers and iconic structures continue to push the boundaries of modern engineering, scaffolding projects has become an integral part of construction and renovation for projects of enormous scale. You may not give much thought to the temporary steel and wooden structures erected around buildings under development, but scaffolding has facilitated some of the most ambitious architectural and engineering feats in history. A construction or renovation project of epic proportions requires work to be performed high up or in hard to reach areas. Scaffolding provides a safe platform for workers and materials largest scaffolding projects from around the world demonstrate how this seemingly simple system has enabled the creation of some of humanity’s greatest structural marvels.

Scaffolding biggest projects in the world

The Scaffolding is essential for constructing and renovating massive structures around the world. Some of the largest scaffolding projects enable work on iconic landmarks and the tallest skyscrapers.

The Giza Pyramids Restoration Project

The Giza Pyramids in Egypt underwent major restoration work in the 2010s, requiring an enormous scaffolding structure to access the 450-foot Great Pyramid. The scaffolding consisted of a network of metal pipes, platforms and stairs that surrounded the pyramid, allowing workers to clean, stabilize and protect the ancient limestone blocks.

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The Shanghai Tower

The Shanghai Tower , China’s tallest skyscraper at 632 meters high, utilized an immense scaffolding system during its construction from 2008 to 2015.Workers added new floors to the tower by progressing upward on the high scaffolding, which contained multiple levels of wooden boards and metal pipes. Construction workers relied on the scaffolding for access, transporting materials and safety equipment.

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Big Ben Elizabeth Tower Restoration

London’s iconic Big Ben clock tower has been undergoing a multi-year renovation, requiring an expansive scaffolding structure to envelop the 96-meter Elizabeth Tower. The scaffolding has allowed crews to access all areas of the tower to restore masonry, repaint, regaled the clock dials and repair the clock mechanism. The construction team is expected to complete the iconic scaffolding and renovation project in 2021.

scaffolding projects architecture

Massive scaffolding projects around the world enable the construction and preservation of some of the largest and most historic structures. When built to high safety standards, scaffolding provides essential access for ambitious and complex building projects on a grand scale.

The Largest Scaffolding Structures Ever Built

Construction and renovation projects around the world have erected some of the largest scaffolding structures ever built. Scaffolding for high rise buildings requires meticulous planning and engineering to ensure safety, stability and functionality.

Scaffolding for Burj Khalifa Construction

The Burj Khalifa’s construction (2004-2010) employed specialized scaffolding due to its unique design and extreme height. Modular scaffolding allowed secure access for tasks, material transport, and worker mobility. Custom design adapted to the tower’s architecture. As the tower grew to record-breaking heights, the workers extended the scaffolding to aid efficient and safe construction.

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The Venetian Macao Resort Hotel

The Venetian Macao casino and resort in Macau, China features the largest single hotel building in Asia with over 3,000 suites and 1.2 million square feet of gaming space. Constructing the curved facade of the 39-story luxury resort required an enormous scaffolding structure covering the entire building. The $2.4 billion project opened in 2007 and set several world records.

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The Sagrada Família Basilica

The iconic Sagrada Família church in Barcelona, Spain has been under construction since 1882. The immense scaffolding surrounding the ornate Gothic and Art Nouveau basilica is a fixture of the Barcelona skyline. The scaffolding has allowed stonemasons and other tradesmen to slowly build the church through private donations over the last century.They do not expect to complete the basilica until at least 2026, which is the 100th anniversary of architect Antoni Gaudí’s death.

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The Sydney Opera House

People around the world recognize the Sydney Opera House for its distinctive shell-shaped design. Workers pieced together its precast concrete panels and vaulted roofs while enveloping the Opera House in scaffolding during its original construction in the 1960s and 70s. The scaffolding was itself an impressive sight and an important part of the building’s history. After completion, various renovation and preservation projects have used additional scaffolding to maintain the architectural icon.

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Iconic Buildings That Required Extensive Scaffolding

Some of the world’s most iconic buildings have required extensive scaffolding during construction or renovation. The scale and complexity of these massive projects is truly an engineering marvel.

The Empire State Building

The Empire State Building is one of New York City’s most recognizable landmarks. When construction began in 1930, the scaffolding used was unprecedented. The steel frame rose at an astonishing rate of one floor per day, requiring 50 miles of pipes and over 350,000 rivets to hold it all together.The designer designed the scaffolding for efficiency and included a small elevator to move materials up and down.Upon its completion, the Empire State Building stood as the tallest building in the world for nearly 40 years.

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The Leaning Tower of Pisa

The Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy required significant scaffolding and stabilization efforts to prevent it from toppling over. Construction began in 1173 but took over 200 years due to wars and other delays. The soft, unstable soil caused the tower to start leaning as early as 1178. In the 1990s and early 2000s, workers began extensive stabilization efforts to secure the foundation and erected scaffolding around all sides of the tower. They removed hundreds of tons of soil from under the higher side of the foundation to level it. The stabilization efforts were a success, and the iconic Leaning Tower of Pisa is now open to visitors.

scaffolding projects architecture

Scaffolding plays an essential role in constructing and preserving some of the world’s most impressive buildings and landmarks. Scaffolding enables the completion of these massive and complex projects with proper engineering and safety precautions put in place.

Logistical Challenges of high rise scaffolding 

When undertaking a large-scale scaffolding project, you must consider several logistical challenges.As the size and complexity of the construction increases, so do the difficulties in properly executing the scaffolding. To ensure worker safety, cost efficiency, and timely completion, we require careful planning and preparation.

  • Material Requirements Substantial amounts of materials are necessary for monumental scaffolding builds. This includes vast quantities of steel or aluminum tubes and clamps, wooden or metal boards, ropes, nets, and more. Obtaining and transporting these materials to the job site poses a significant challenge. To acquire the necessary volumes, you may need to place advance orders and arrange additional delivery vehicles and routes. You will also need to ensure proper on-site storage space for materials until installation.
  • Safety Considerations The immense scale of major scaffolding projects amplifies risks to worker safety . Thoroughly implement fall protection, including guardrails, mid-rails, toe boards, and netting, across all levels of the structure. The use of heavy machinery to lift and move materials often adds additional hazards.Comprehensive safety plans, training, and monitoring are essential to prevent injury. All safety standards and regulations must be strictly followed.
  • Project Management Large-scale scaffolding demands meticulous project management to orchestrate the complex logistics. We require detailed timelines, resource allocation, cost analysis, and communication plans. We must properly coordinate crews to ensure maximum efficiency. The sequential installation and dismantling of scaffolding sections necessitates close monitoring of progress and adjustments to schedules as needed. Contingency plans should also be in place for any unexpected events that could impact the project.

By adequately addressing the challenges, monumental scaffolding endeavors can overcome logistical difficulties through rigorous planning, preparation, and project management, achieving worker safety, cost effectiveness, and on-time completion even on an immense scale.

Safety Considerations for Mega Scaffolding Projects

Safety is paramount for mega scaffolding projects, especially those at great heights or that require complex structures. When erecting scaffolding on an enormous scale, several precautions must be taken to ensure the wellbeing of workers and the public.

  • Strict Regulations and Permits For sizable scaffolding projects, it is crucial to follow all applicable safety regulations and obtain proper permits . City or state building codes will specify standards for scaffolding based on the height, load capacity, and intended use. Permits help ensure inspections are done to confirm that the scaffolding is secure and safe for both construction crews and pedestrians.
  • Structural Integrity The scaffolding structure must be sound and stable to support the weight of workers, materials, and equipment without risk of collapse. All connections and joints should be properly secured, and the structure should be anchored to the building at specific intervals. Metal parts should be in good condition, with no dents, damage or rust that could compromise strength.
  • Fall Protection For multi-story scaffolding, fall protection is essential, including handrails, mid-rails, toe boards, mesh netting, and personal fall arrest systems. Any open sides or ends of platforms should have guardrailing to prevent falls. Safety harnesses should be worn and properly secured to anchor points, especially when working at extreme heights.
  • Signage and Barricades Clearly visible signs should warn about overhead work and instruct pedestrians to exercise caution. Barricades like cones, tape, and fencing help delineate work areas to keep the public at a safe distance from the construction and avoid debris. Proper lighting, especially at night, illuminates warning signs, barricades, and scaffolding for visibility.

Strict safety practices must govern massive scaffolding projects to shield workers and communities from harm. Careful planning, diligent inspections, protective equipment, and comprehensive precautions can help prevent the dire consequences of a collapse or fall from tremendous heights. Safety should be the top priority for any construction project, but especially for those that ascend to such perilous elevations.

In conclusion, scaffolding projects on an immense scale demonstrate the ambition and ingenuity of construction and renovation efforts around the world. These massive undertakings require meticulous planning, specialized equipment, and expert teams to erect and dismantle the scaffolding structures. The results of these projects showcase some of the most iconic landmarks, buildings, and infrastructure, allowing people to continue accessing and enjoying them. While the scale of such scaffolding systems boggles the mind, they are a testament to human achievement and our desire to build, create, restore and improve. The next time you see scaffolding around a building, think of the complexity behind the structures and the efforts to craft something memorable. Scaffolding on a grand scale allows us to reach new heights.

scaffolding projects architecture

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6 Types of Scaffolding  and Their Uses in Construction

Scaffolding provides temporary work platforms for construction workers. This article explains what scaffolding is and common types of scaffolding systems used in construction like tube and coupler or suspended scaffolding. Understanding different scaffolding options and how they are constructed is important for safety on work sites and allowing tasks to be completed at various heights during building erection, renovation or maintenance projects.

What is scaffolding in construction?

Scaffolding is special building used on construction sites. Workers need it to do their jobs high up without being dangerous. Scaffolding gives them a safe, strong platform to stand on when working above the ground.

Whether building a new tall building or fixing an old one, scaffolding helps a lot. It lets workers put up walls, install windows and do painting without climbing ladders or standing on roofs. Scaffolding comes in different types to suit different jobs. Some stick to walls, others dangle from above or have wheels to roll around.

Building scaffolding safely is important. It must not fall over when workers stand on it. Special metal poles are joined together with braces to make it super strong. Boards or decks connect across for the floor. Railings go around the edge to stop falls.

Inspectors check scaffolding is not broken before workers use it. They follow rules to stay protected with helmets. Scaffolding needs to be taken down carefully when the job is done.

With scaffolding, big construction can get done better and faster. Hard jobs that seem scary are made much safer. Scaffolding helps buildings get built by letting people work high up without danger.

Types of scaffolding system

There are six main types of scaffolding used around the world today. These are tube and coupler scaffolds, modular scaffolds, H-type scaffolds, suspended scaffolds, timber scaffolds and bamboo scaffolds (particularly in China and India).

1. Tube and Coupler Scaffold

It is also called tube and clamp scaffold, but it is commonly called tube and coupler scaffold, which is a very popular type of scaffolding. It’s made of strong metal poles that fit tightly together using connectors called couplers. Planks or decks lay across the poles to make platforms. Tube and coupler scaffold is good for most regular building work because it’s easy to put up and take down.

scaffolding projects architecture

2. Modular scaffold

Modular scaffold is special scaffolding for big jobs. It comes in pieces that click together like Lego blocks. Builders don’t have to build it themselves. They just place the scaffold pieces next to the building and join them. This makes modular scaffold very quick to put up. It’s best for large buildings where lots of scaffolding is needed. There are several types of modular scaffolding systems commonly used in construction projects. Some of the main types include:

(1) Frame scaffold

A frame scaffold, also known as a tubular scaffold or baker scaffold, is a type of temporary structure used in construction and maintenance projects. It consists of vertical frames and horizontal cross braces that create a sturdy framework. The frames are made of metal tubes and have ladder steps for easy access. Frame scaffolds are versatile and can be easily assembled, disassembled, and adjusted to different heights. They provide a safe working platform for workers to perform tasks at elevated heights, such as painting, repairs, or installations.

scaffolding projects architecture

(2) Kwikstage scaffold

Kwikstage scaffold, also known as modular scaffold, is a versatile and efficient scaffolding system widely used in construction projects. It features prefabricated components including vertical standards and horizontal ledgers that can be quickly and easily connected using wedge-shaped locking devices. This design allows for fast assembly and dismantling, saving time and labor costs. Kwikstage scaffold provides a stable and secure working platform for workers at various heights. It is adjustable, adaptable to different terrain, and can be customized to fit specific project requirements. Its flexibility and ease of use make it a popular choice for construction sites.

scaffolding projects architecture

(3) Climbing scaffold

A climbing scaffold, also known as a self-climbing scaffold or a jump-form system, is a specialized type of scaffolding used in high-rise construction. It is designed to move vertically along with the building structure as it is being constructed. The climbing scaffold consists of a framework that is attached to the building and gradually raised or climbed up as each level is completed. This eliminates the need for external scaffolding during the construction process. Climbing scaffolds provide a safe and efficient method for workers to access different levels of the building, saving time and improving productivity.

scaffolding projects architecture

(4) Ringlock scaffold

Ringlock scaffold is a versatile and reliable modular scaffolding system commonly used in construction projects. It is characterized by vertical standards with rosette connections and horizontal ledgers that lock into the rosettes. This design provides quick and secure assembly, making it efficient for both small and large-scale projects. The rosette connections allow for multiple angles and configurations, adapting to different job site requirements. Ringlock scaffold offers excellent load-bearing capacity and stability, making it suitable for various heights and complex structures. It is a popular choice due to its ease of use, flexibility, and ability to handle heavy loads.

scaffolding projects architecture

3. H-type scaffold

H-type scaffold is a widely used for façades of structures. It has two tall poles like a capital H. Builders stand on boards that dangle down from these poles. Weights keep the dangling boards balanced so they don’t swing. H-type scaffold lets workers fix high windows or walls without danger. They can even reach spots behind buildings using this hanging scaffold.

scaffolding projects architecture

4. Suspended scaffold

Suspended scaffold is, also called hanging scaffold, a work platform that are attached with cables, ropes or chains to an overhead structure like bridge elements or ceilings. Counterweights help keep the hanging platform stable. Builders can stand on it to clean windows or fix walls very high up. Suspended scaffold swings a tiny bit but counterweights stop it swinging too much. It’s perfect for working on skyscrapers safely.

scaffolding projects architecture

5. Timber scaffold

Timber scaffold uses wood instead of metal. Strong pieces of wood stick up like poles. Boards lay across the top to make a platform. Even though it’s made of wood, it’s still very sturdy. Timber scaffold is good for building things that don’t need to last a long time. Things like temporary stands or wooden sheds can use timber scaffolding during construction. Wood poles are cheaper than metal so it saves builders money for short jobs.

scaffolding projects architecture

6. Bamboo scaffold

In some places, especially in China and India, builders use bamboo instead of wood or metal for scaffolding. Bamboo scaffolding is very common in parts of Asia. Thick bamboo poles are used as the supports. They bend a little instead of breaking when weight presses down. Like timber scaffold, boards lay across bamboo poles to make a platform. Bamboo is even stronger than wood and grows back fast when harvested. It provides a stable surface to work from without harming forests.

scaffolding projects architecture

Different scaffolding options and their construction is vital for ensuring safety on job sites and facilitating tasks at various heights during building erection, renovation or maintenance projects. By familiarizing with the various types of scaffolding, you can select the most appropriate option for a given project. If you’re in need of a versatile and reliable scaffolding system solution, GYarchitecture is here to help. With our expertise, we can provide you with an ideal and customized solution that perfectly fits your requirements. Trust GYarchitecture for a scaffolding system that meets your specific needs and ensures the success of your project.

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Moscow’s New Supertall Skyscraper Approved for Construction

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  • Written by Eric Baldwin
  • Published on August 29, 2018

Moscow officials have approved a new supertall building that will become the city's tallest skyscraper . Rising 404 meters (1,325 feet) in height as part of the Moscow City commercial district, the tower is designed by Sergey Skuratov Architects. The unnamed structure will be a multifunctional residential complex with 109 floors. The new skyscraper will break Moscow's current tall building record set by Federation Tower at 373-meter-tall (1,226 feet) tall. Construction is scheduled to begin next year.

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The new skyscraper joins a host of other superlative buildings in Moscow City, including five of the ten tallest buildings in Europe, all supertall structures.The district's Federation Tower currently holds the title of Europe's tallest completed skyscraper. Soon, it will be surpassed by St. Petersburg's Lakhta Center , which will rise 462 meters when complete in 2019. When complete, Skuratov's skyscraper in Moscow will become Europe's second tallest building.

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Designed with two main volumes, the new supertall design includes a 12 story base structure with offices, a shopping center and a range of commercial facilities. Above, residences will rise to the 104th floor. Capped with a helipad, the project includes an observation at 399 meters (1,309 feet) above ground. The project's facade will feature a gradient of white glass between windows that disappears by the 80th floor. As Skuratov explains, "The plan of the building is an isosceles (trapezoid) 30 meters wide, truncated on one side, facing the Moskva River. The sloping edge on the west side of the tower follows the direction of one of the nearby streets. The other edge is vertical and points toward the center of Moscow."

Moscow's supertall is set to open in 2024. Read more about Sergey Skuratov and his work through our recent interview .

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High-rise Residential Complex. Image Courtesy of Sergey Skuratov Architects

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  2. Works in Progress: 7 Projects Structured With Wooden Scaffolding

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    Scaffolding is a structure created from precast metal elements that allows the creation of spaces with different proportions, dimensions and heights. They are adaptable and can be placed on...

  2. Scaffolding

    19 August 2022 Leave a comment Figure creates pocket park disguised as a building site on LA's Wilshire Boulevard Architecture collective Figure has used the scaffolding and netted fabric...

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    Through an installation designed by Shohei Shigematsu and OMA New York with graphic design by MTWTF, Scaffolding will disrupt the architectural space of the Center for Architecture,...

  4. Works in Progress: 7 Projects Structured With Wooden Scaffolding

    Wooden scaffolding is primarily known for its role in construction, a tool for workers climbing buildings or engineering projects. As a result, scaffolding is an inherently temporary form of architecture, if it is architecture at all. It is more accurately an accessory to architecture, a prelude to future forms.

  5. Scaffolding: From Auxiliary Equipment to Primary Function

    An iconic project that used scaffolding permanently was Teatro Oficina, by Italian-Brazilian architect Lina Bo Bardi and Edson Elito. According to critic Rowan Moore, who published an article on ...

  6. Scaffolding as an Architectural Material

    Scaffolding as an Architectural Material Exhibits Books Etc. Posted on: August 25, 2017 EXHIBITIONS Scaffolding as an Architectural Material An upcoming exhibition at New York City's Center for Architecture reimagines role of scaffolding in architecture. By Ayda Ayoubi

  7. Transformative Potential of Scaffolding Explored in Center for

    Disrupt is a word used more and more in today's political climate and Scaffolding's ideas succeed in disrupting the top-down, capitalistic, patriarchal architecture practice that is a norm in ...

  8. Suzuko Yamada encloses reconfigurable Tokyo home in scaffolding

    This Japanese home designed by architect Suzuko Yamada is connected to its garden through a scaffold of steel pipes and platforms that can be adapted according to the owner's needs. Set in a ...

  9. From display structures to housing prototypes

    Drawing the history of the construction technology, Scaffolding, looks at wooden sticks in European middle age, the use of bamboo in Asia and more recently the use of industrialized steel and aluminum sticks. It also presents contemporary chosen scaffolding projects from across the world, including display structures, housing prototypes, and participatory self-build schemes.

  10. Role of Scaffolding in Architectural Projects: Ensuring Safety and

    Scaffolding is an integral component of architectural projects, serving as a temporary structure that provides support, access, and safety for construction, renovation, and maintenance work.

  11. The Architectural Language of Scaffoldings in Cityscapes ...

    Scaffoldings exhibit many architectural traits, and designers have explored how they perform as building elements in their own right. They express modularity, scalability, and structural...

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    Scaffolding The exhibition at the Center for Architecture, Scaffolding, on view from October 2 through January 18, explores the transformative potential of scaffolding, a pervasive but often-maligned element of New York City.

  13. Overgrowth

    Overgrowth. November 2018. In Mumbai, a city permanently under construction and repair, bamboo scaffolding is ubiquitous. The city, with its concrete and brick architecture, is engulfed in humidity that possesses a violent capacity to invade the most solidly engineered materials. In these continually deteriorating conditions, it is common ...

  14. World's largest Scaffolding projects, Safety Considerations for mega

    The Shanghai Tower The Shanghai Tower, China's tallest skyscraper at 632 meters high, utilized an immense scaffolding system during its construction from 2008 to 2015.Workers added new floors to the tower by progressing upward on the high scaffolding, which contained multiple levels of wooden boards and metal pipes.

  15. 6 Types of Scaffolding and Their Uses in Construction

    1. Tube and Coupler Scaffold It is also called tube and clamp scaffold, but it is commonly called tube and coupler scaffold, which is a very popular type of scaffolding. It's made of strong metal poles that fit tightly together using connectors called couplers. Planks or decks lay across the poles to make platforms.

  16. A Scaffolding System for a Temporary Facility / Peris+Toral ...

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  18. Scaffoldage

    Published on March 23, 2011 Share Scaffoldage is a collection of scaffolding photographs highlighting construction throughout the world. Maintained by Shaun Usher, each image links to its...

  19. Angsila Oyster Scaffolding Pavilion / CHAT Architects

    Architects: CHAT Architects Year: 2023 Photographs: W-Workspace More Specs Text description provided by the architects. Chat Architects unveils its new project, the Angsila Oyster...

  20. Federation Tower / Tchoban Voss Architekten + SPEECH

    Save this picture! Text description provided by the architects. Federation Tower is a complex consisting of two skyscrapers - the 63-storey Tower West and the 97-storey Tower East - on lot 13 ...

  21. Dogchitecture: WE Architecture Designs a Center That ...

    Copenhagen firm WE Architecture has completed a proposal for a "Dog Center" in Moscow that challenges traditional notions of animal shelters. Nestled in the countryside, the one-story pavilion ...

  22. Moscow Satellite City to Become First Classical Russian ...

    The city's classical architecture will be combined with advanced environmental technologies, such as terrace gardens that will span three hectares, decorating the city and reducing CO2 emissions ...

  23. Moscow's New Supertall Skyscraper Approved for Construction

    Moscow officials have approved a new supertall building that will become the city's tallest skyscraper. Rising 404 meters (1,325 feet) in height as part of the Moscow City commercial district, the ...