dRMM removes hardwood timber display from V&A after a year on show

dRMM has deinstalled its Building from Forests display at the V&A South Kensington after a year on show, the practice said on 9 November, with components now back at its studio ahead of further outings.

The V&A listed the display as running from Tuesday 25 November 2025 to Friday 30 October 2026. It formed part of the fifth iteration of Make Good: Rethinking Material Futures, which the museum described as a ten-year programme supported by John Makepeace OBE and a curatorial project on natural, renewable materials in design and architecture.

dRMM said some components will go to the Timber Futures exhibition at the Building Centre in January, and that there are plans to display the whole structure together again in 2027.

Finbar Charleson, Research Lead at dRMM, said of the underlying research: "For architects, this research opens up exciting new possibilities."

The research

According to the V&A, the display followed a three-year research project by the New Model Institute for Technology and Engineering (NMITE) and partners, which the museum said was commissioned by the Forestry Commission England. dRMM, in a separate post on its final report, said the project was funded through the Forestry Commission's Woods into Management Forestry Innovation Fund.

dRMM named its research partners as NMITE, Edinburgh Napier University, BE-ST and Ecosystems Technologies. The practice said the Building from England's Woodlands research began in 2022 with experts from forestry, wood science, timber manufacturing and construction, and looked at how underused British hardwoods could contribute to the future of timber construction.

The V&A said dRMM worked with scientists at Edinburgh Napier University to test UK hardwood species for strength, stiffness and density. The museum said testing found birch the strongest and sweet chestnut the weakest of the hardwoods tested, but all stronger than spruce.

Working with BE-ST, dRMM developed new recipes for cross-laminated timber (CLT) and glulam using homegrown timber, the V&A said. The practice also developed a CLT "knuckle" joint that removes the need for steel plates, and a light, strong barrel vault that can serve as a roof or, at a much smaller scale, in place of flooring joists.

The display ended with speculative models showing how the components could address structural shortcomings in three typical types of timber building, according to the V&A, and was shown alongside a film about the practice's work.

The findings

dRMM said its research found hybrid CLT and glulam met all required strength and durability criteria, and that placing hardwood in key structural zones enabled material savings of about 10 to 15%. A hybrid hardwood-softwood glulam beam has been installed in NMITE's new Skills Hub building in Hereford, the practice said.

Charleson said: "we can begin to design with the characteristics and diversity of our local forests in mind."

dRMM said it had used the display for organised research days and visits by large student groups, and that it became a starting point for conversations with developers, architects and engineers about using English hardwood in construction. The practice said its first conversations with the V&A team about the display took place in 2024.

What happens next

dRMM said Building from Forests has been shortlisted for the 2026 Wood Awards, with the winners to be announced towards the end of November.