Henry Moore's 'The Arch' Structural Survey

Henry Moore’s ‘The Arch’ is a six-metre high Roman travertine sculpture. It was presented by Moore to the nation for siting in Kensington Gardens in 1980 - two years after his eightieth-birthday exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery, London. The sculpture is made from seven travertine stones weighing a total of 37 tonnes, sourced from a quarry in northern Italy. 

By 1996, it became apparent that The Arch had become structurally unstable and it was carefully dismantled and put into store. Discussions were ongoing about the restoration work needed to reinstate it. 

Objective
The Royal Parks and The Henry Moore Foundation  wished to re-establish this statue by the Serpentine in Hyde Park.
 
Services Provided
Initial scanning of the fibreglass replica and each of the dismantled stone blocks was carried out for The Scan Team who painstakingly reconstructed the statue on the computer to aide in its reinstatement.

PAYE were contracted to rebuild the statue but to ensure the process went correctly, the statue was rebuilt initially in their yard where we set out the base stones. The statue was put together building up from each leg and despite all best efforts, was found to not align. APR scanned the constructed elements and calculated the revisions required to the base positions to provide the correct join.

The constructed base plates in Hyde Park were scanned and full size templates were printed to place on the concrete bases to ensure each bottom stone was correctly positioned. The Statue was then successfully re-assembled and to the relief of all, the stones joined perfectly.  
Key Successes
The Arch has been rebuilt in Hyde Park and is enjoyed on a daily basis by its many visitors.

Further info on our 3D Laser Scanning Services  and 3D Modelling Services.
Henry Moore installation in Kensington Park, courtesy of PAYE Ltd