Níall will be giving a lecture at the Bartlett School of Architecture on Monday the 17th November with responses from Izaskun Chinchilla as part of the Bartlett's Crunch lecture series. The lecture is titled The Practitioner. The seminar series invites international experts to examine and reflect on how architecture can respond to our current 'polycrisis' – a convergence of urgent, intersecting global challenges. More information on the series here.
Below are some from the Natural History Museum site showing the scaffold ‘tunnel’ going up at the Museum. This is the framework required to lift, manipulate, and move the blue whale skull into position in a few weeks.
Though the main hall has had a sperm whale in it before, this was only around 15m long. In contrast, the blue whale, the largest known animal to have ever existed, is about 30m long once assembled.
Unfortunately, due to the various extensions and alterations to the Museum over time, the skull can only come in via the front doors. And – much like a very large, very heavy, very valuable sofa – it’s a case of squeezing it in at strange angles.