En+ Group, V&A collaborates to raise climate awareness at London Design Festival

The world's largest producer of low-carbon aluminium and independent hydropower, En+ Group collaborated with V&A, the world’s leading museum of art, design and performance to produce a fascinating pavilion for the London Design Festival.

The En+ Group’s metal division Rusal produces the world’s lowest carbon emitted aluminium with a unique inert anode technology and from that particular green metal, the pavilion theme “Between Forests and Skies” is developed.

This will emphasize the fundamental role of low-carbon raw materials in creating a more sustainable world, and the importance of low-carbon aluminium – a key promoter of more sustainable economic development and a ‘green’ recovery worldwide.

Light, durable, and almost infinitely recyclable, aluminium is a critical material for several emerging market segments that underpin the evolution to a low-carbon economy: e-mobility, urban mobility, greener building and construction, ‘green’ cables for renewable energy, and more sustainable packaging.

The pavilion will be positioned in The John Madejski Garden at the V&A from 18 September to 17 October to coincide with London Design Festival (18 to 26 September).

Lord Barker, Executive Chairman of En+ Group, said: "The pavilion is made from the lowest carbon aluminium ever produced, using breakthrough technology and the power of water. This method of production reinforces aluminium as the material with which we will sustainably build our future thanks to its infinite recyclability and capacity to be produced in line with a green economy."

The innovative design uses a limited volume of material to create a seemingly delicate yet robust structure to demonstrate the unique qualities of aluminium. Working with sheet material and through minimal cuts and bends, the designers, Nebbia Works, will transform a 2D object into a complex 3D forest-like space. At the V&A, visitors will be able to enter and interact with the pavilion, offering a new perspective to The John Madejski Garden as well as a moment of reflection between the forest of aluminium legs and upwards to the sky through the complex cut and fold form of the structure. 

Tristram Hunt, Director of the V&A, said: “As the world’s leading museum of art, design and performance, the V&A is approaching the climate crisis with creativity and optimism to inspire the next generation. We have a responsibility to explore the ideas and realities of what environmental sustainability means across generations, locations and societies. As the one-time Museum of Manufacture, we are proud to be partnering with En+ on this innovative material exploration of low carbon aluminium, and we look forward to seeing this exciting pavilion on display at the V&A for London Design Festival.”