The Incredible Floating Room
Conjuring space from waste while dodging a train
At AVMR we like to work magic and recently did just that with the creation of an incredible floating room for a major hotel client in London.
With the capital’s volume of real-estate finite (and therefore highly valuable) smart developers have worked ever harder to create commercial space where previously there was none. While towers may be seen to be rising ever higher, the real breakthroughs in construction are in excavation, creating amazing new spaces at lower levels using modern construction tech.
The problem we were asked to help out with really took this cutting edge art to the next level however. London’s underground rail system is a miracle of the modern age but as it invisibly snakes up, over and around itself it can make its presence known in unwanted respects.
While some lines can go as deep as 52m, others graze the undersides of foundations and basements in ‘cut n cover’ tunnels erected in haste as capacity expanded. This had made many lucrative foundation spaces unusable but at AVMR we love a challenge.
Our client had such a space – a perfect potential conference/dining area at a lower level with the required excavation complete to the necessary building standards. However the proximity of an underground line just a few metres away, effectively glancing the space meant that any proposed guests within would ‘feel’ every passing train...
The solution was to build a room within our room and mount this internal structure on massive anti-vibration mounts, custom built and supplied by AVMR, invisibly suspending the entire room. The entries and exits to the space give no clue as to its ‘flotation’ and it is of course as solid as the rest of the building, yet the room effectively sits free of the ground and walls that surround it. This allows it to move in harmony with the vibrations from passing trains remaining perceptibly motionless inside.
The client was delighted with the results and now enjoys a larger capacity (and happier guests) in a space previously assumed unusable. If you would like us to work similar wonders for you, just give us a call.
At AVMR we like to work magic and recently did just that with the creation of an incredible floating room for a major hotel client in London.
With the capital’s volume of real-estate finite (and therefore highly valuable) smart developers have worked ever harder to create commercial space where previously there was none. While towers may be seen to be rising ever higher, the real breakthroughs in construction are in excavation, creating amazing new spaces at lower levels using modern construction tech.
The problem we were asked to help out with really took this cutting edge art to the next level however. London’s underground rail system is a miracle of the modern age but as it invisibly snakes up, over and around itself it can make its presence known in unwanted respects.
While some lines can go as deep as 52m, others graze the undersides of foundations and basements in ‘cut n cover’ tunnels erected in haste as capacity expanded. This had made many lucrative foundation spaces unusable but at AVMR we love a challenge.
Our client had such a space – a perfect potential conference/dining area at a lower level with the required excavation complete to the necessary building standards. However the proximity of an underground line just a few metres away, effectively glancing the space meant that any proposed guests within would ‘feel’ every passing train...
The solution was to build a room within our room and mount this internal structure on massive anti-vibration mounts, custom built and supplied by AVMR, invisibly suspending the entire room. The entries and exits to the space give no clue as to its ‘flotation’ and it is of course as solid as the rest of the building, yet the room effectively sits free of the ground and walls that surround it. This allows it to move in harmony with the vibrations from passing trains remaining perceptibly motionless inside.
The client was delighted with the results and now enjoys a larger capacity (and happier guests) in a space previously assumed unusable. If you would like us to work similar wonders for you, just give us a call.
