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Sir Basil Spence
Event ID 589094
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Sir Basil Spence
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/589094
Building Notes
In 1951 Basil Spence and Partners designed a temporary exhibition stand to publicise ICI's Ardil fibre at the Army and Navy Stores, London. Ardil was a peanut fibre that was similar to wool and could be woven into fabric. The company had patented it in 1937 and re-launched it after the Second World War. By 1951 ICI was producing 10,000 tons of Ardil per year but in 1957 production ceased. This was one of a number of exhibition commissions Spence carried out for ICI throughout his career.
Archive Detail and Summary
The Sir Basil Spence Archive holds one photograph of a perspective drawing by Basil Spence and six drawings showing plans, sections, elevations and details of the exhibition stand.
The drawings show that the exhibition was to be held on the third floor of the Army and Navy Stores. They also show that the exhibition stand was a fibre-covered cocoon, with an elliptical opening in the roof. Above the opening was an enormous spider suspended from a spider's web. Inside the cocoon were six observation openings that punctured the exterior wall.
It has not been possible to establish as yet whether the exhibition stand was ever built.
This text was written as one of the outputs of the Sir Basil Spence Archive Project, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, 2005-08.
