History

Installation

The Knowledge Lab in 23-29 Emerald Street was the site of the first complete physical model of a 3D projection of an omnitruncated 600-cell polytope. It was built over two days in August 2006 as part of the “Bridges London” mathematics and art conference held at the Institute of Education and the Knowledge Lab. It was constructed using a special geometrical construction kit called Zometool. It consists of 21,360 individual parts and contains 3 internal structures.

The construction team was led by David Richter, Dan Duddy, and Paul Hildebrandt and included: Scott Vorthmann, Geoff Child, Edmund Harriss, Andrew Griffin, Gary Woodley, Paul & Helen Brazier, Robert McDermott, Maki Maehata, Noriko Maehata, John and Shirley Bibby , Doug McKenna, Samuel Verbiese, George W. Hart, Michael Green, Wiebke Drenckhan, Marcel Tünissen, Rachel Hall, David Richter, Laurinda Brown, Eva Knoll, Jean Marc Castera and more.

Following a period of sitting in a corner, the polytope was permanently installed at the Knowledge Lab in July 2007. It was suspended from the ceiling of the semi-public breakout area, where it remained until 2017. The polytope could be observed from the outside through the window, and for a few months globally via a 24/7 experimental live web stream.

Installation was overseen by Michael Green, Edmund Harriss, Gary Woodley, Scott Vorthmann and Phillip Kent.

Learn more about the construction of the Knowledge Lab Polytope.

Move to Bedford Way

The Knowledge Lab Polytope was deinstalled on 17th November 2017 by members of the UCL Knowledge Lab.  In order to deinstall the polytope, it had to be split into two parts.  The polytope was heavy, so the team braced it with 3 wooden beams for it to not collapse on itself. They then split the polytope down the middle, by removing individual pieces, pulled it apart and deinstalled it from the ceiling. The polytope was placed into foam lined exhibition cases and transported to UCL Institute of Education main building in 20 Bedford Way.

Deinstallation was overseen by Jennifer Rode, Colin Seymour and Phaedra Shanbaum with help from Mutlu Cukurova, John Dinnewell, Tony Farrell, Houtan Froushan, Ronan Haughton, Seray Ibrahim, Tomasz Majchrzyk, Tim Neumann, Dayo Ogunmuyiwa, John Potter and Rowland Wells.

Return to Emerald Street

Following remodelling work at 20 Bedford Way, the Polytope returned to the UCL Knowledge Lab and was reinstalled at its former location.

It is visible through the window at the very end of Emerald Street.