Machine  Icon  Monument is a cross disciplinary architecture performance project by Director Melanie Wilson, Producer Louise Blackwell and Production Manager Helen Mugridge, in collaboration with Hawkins Brown. Over the past few months, Senior Engineer, Hannah Rathbone from our London Studio, has been working alongside the team providing structural engineering advice on this fascinating project, which is funded by outdoor arts consortium, ‘Without Walls.’

Machine Icon Monument is a large-scale performance installation about political will, in which a group of women build a massive structure in public space.  The identity of the structure has the potential to signify a totem, an organism, a meeting place and a monument. Through the real, sustained, physical exertion of actual construction, the performance engages with ideas about political thought, female momentum, social change and transformation, and the complexities and challenges they contained. The performance is set to premiere in 2019.

Over the course of the project Hannah spent time designing and detailing the structures and this culminated in a rehearsal period where the company practised erecting the structures we had been working on with Hawkins Brown. Hannah said, “Working on creative arts and cultural projects is something we really enjoy and it allows us to look at engineering in a different way. It was a great experience to be able to watch the performers interacting with the structures and to see how their ideas developed throughout the rehearsal period. There was less than three weeks between us getting involved with the project and the performers erecting the structures in the rehearsal space. We worked quickly, creatively and collaboratively with Hawkins Brown and the client to bring their ideas to life.”

Take a look behind the scenes at the project, including an appearance by Hannah