Behind The Scenes At The Museum

Bringing together two of my favourite subjects, structural engineering and art, I was very interested in the media coverage of how Anthony Gormley’s latest exhibition has been staged at the Royal Academy of Art. Gormley is known for his use of iron and steel in his works and the new exhibition features kilometres of coiled metal, a huge meshwork structure and his trademark life size cast iron figures -not to mention a gallery flooded with sea water. News articles gave the logistics of displaying such structures almost as much coverage as the works of art themselves, in particular the need to reinforce the roof structure to support the exhibits.

The expertise of structural engineers was similarly used in the display of the blue whale skeleton which took centre stage from Dippy the Dinosaur in the entrance hall of the Natural History Museum in 2017. In her blog Lorraine Cornish, Head of Conservation at the museum, writes of the challenges that came with suspending the complex specimen from the ceiling, especially given the determination to show it in the most life like ‘diving lunge feeding position’. A fascinating article on the ICE website details how this was achieved. https://www.ice.org.uk/what-is-civil-engineering/what-do-civil-engineers-do/natural-history-museum-blue-whale-install

Closer to home, our own SER engineer Giles Ward was involved in a project at the National Space Centre in Leicester, called in to advise on the suspension from the ceiling of the Gemini Capsule Tow Test Vehicle. This spacecraft formed part of the Gemini Project in the early 1960’s when space scientists were investigating alternative landing methods, the idea being that the TTV could be flown to earth rather than splashing down in the sea. Before the Gemini Capsule could be safely hung from the ceiling at the Space Centre, Giles had to undertake a complete structural inspection of the roof along with a full appraisal of its original structural design. Only then could this fascinating artefact of the space race be displayed in all its glory.