This is one of the projects I did at a well-known hotel here in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. You can find the location at this link Radisson Blu Hotel, Abu Dhabi. And just a few meters away you can see Ferri World Abu Dhabi, which is known for having the Fastest Roller Coaster in the world.
As you enter the main entrance of the hotel you will be able to see the projects I have done inside the hotel, including this wood art. I will share my other accomplishments in the coming days. This leaf art has undergone many tests if it is possible to do it in the automatic machine or manual way because this leaf art has three sizes.
ELEVATION AND DETAIL
This wall is 7.36 meters high. We used a thick meter, 10 meters long so as not to use a ladder to get its exact height. It is over 8.48 meters the length. We used a cement board on the wall with a distance from the existing wall of 8 centimeters. Its back support is a Masons Timber Sawn wood as per approved.
This is the first plan and elevation we sent according to the sketch given to us. Until we talk about what kind of design they really want? We have made other proposals that will satisfy them. All I gave was three proposals so that they would not be confused with what they wanted to happen.
LEAF PROPOSAL DESIGN
Of these three types of design, the third was their choice. And if you notice, there are three types of sizes, and there are numbers that just how many pieces should be made. There is nothing too much and nothing too little. The excess has to be paid because doing this is manual with the help of some machines.
I saw in the carpentry shop how they do it manually. It employs three people to facilitate production, one large, medium, and small. And of course, their performance is not expected to be the same. But it is only slightly different and does not deviate.
They successfully made every single Wood Leaf. The next challenge is to put each of them on the wall. Because they need to follow the direction of each leaf according to the drawing. Attaching each leaf only requires a small nail and it must be attached to each branch.
The Approved Drawing
This is the approved drawing elevation along with some Leaf Art samples. They used a thin long stick to make branches of the leaves. We make sure each branch is soft and flexible to easily follow directions and not break. The way to soften the 10 mm Diameter wood stick is, soak it in water for 6 hours and let it dry slightly.
Before you attach it to the wall you also need a fire to bend it to dry the wet wood slightly then nail it to the wall with wood glue. By the way, the wall is pure dirty white gloss paint to match the color that can be painted on wooden leaves and trunks.
One of the most complexes of these tasks is the wiring, as each leaf will have a single led light at the end of the leaf. The good thing it was decided, when they see the complex work, only Dim SpotLight would be placed from the ceiling focused on the leaves.
They completed the entire work within 4 Days, but the preparation took 1 month. I didn't take a picture of the entirety of the finished work. This is the one I forgot but for the other projects, I kept some of the pictures.
Can you imagine how they did it? First, they told me to print 1 is to 1 on A3 paper that I drew in AutoCAD and this is what they will use to be the pattern for the wood for engraving. And fortunately, everything went well and was successful.