Hive

Hive is a large-scale Corten steel sculpture by Anish Kapoor, developed for the Royal Academy of Arts in London. The work takes the form of a monumental curved shell, measuring approximately 5.6 meters high, 10.1 meters long, and 7.6 meters wide. Its construction required around 134 square meters of 8 mm Corten steel plate, with the completed shell and internal backing structure weighing approximately 11.7 tonnes.

CIG was responsible for an extensive part of the sculpture’s realization. Working from the final form, our team carried out the engineering of the internal stiffeners and developed the production and assembly documentation required to translate the sculptural surface into a buildable steel structure.

Production included cutting and 3D forming the Corten steel plates, fabrication of the backing frames, sandblasting, and the manufacture of templates for assembly. The sculpture consisted of 96 individual steel panels supported by an extensive internal system of stiffeners. CIG fully assembled the sculpture at our facility in the Netherlands for trial assembly and inspection before it was dismantled in preparation for its installation in London.