London Festival of Architecture 2008

Stopgap Isolator takes part in the London Festival of Architecture


F. Ball’s Isolator membrane played a vital role in an unusual and eye-catching element of the London Festival of Architecture 2008.

For four days the courtyard of Somerset House was turned into ‘London Largest Living Room’ complete with over-sized furniture on a massive 450 m² colourful carpet. In order that it could be removed without trace after the event, the carpet tiles were laid onto F. Ball’s Stopgap Isolator loose-lay membrane.

Linea Floors undertook the installation using a range of obsolete carpet tiles donated by Desso. The work was carried out overnight and was the first outdoor installation undertaken by Linea Floors apart from some small areas of artificial grass.

Linea’s Peter Davies says that despite having to prepare a Method Statement it was still “flying by the seat of our pants”. But luck was with them, he says, and they only suffered one short shower of rain when they were half-way through the installation. The water was mopped up and the work completed.

At the end of the event, the carpet tiles were removed and the Isolator rolled up and taken away. Linea Floors have used Isolator many times before and were enthusiastic about its performance on this occasion. “It did the job very well – perfectly, in fact,” says Peter Davies.