Ten(t)segrity
Wooden Indoor Sculpture + Steel Outdoor Sculpture
October 2012 + April 2013
I created a modular sculpture out of ashwood and then recreated it in steel. The principal unit of the structures were a light weight and strong triangular piece that could be aggregated to form a larger inhabitable space.
Tensile Integrity Module
The sculptures are agregations of a triangular module that gets its strength from bending single rods of either wood or steel and forming three of them into a triangular shape.
Each bent rod wants to snap back to a straight piece. The module utilizes this tensile quality of the material to reinforce its structural integrity.
Ten(t)segrity: Wood
The ashwood from this structure was leftover from the construction of the Granoff Creative Arts Center, the building in which this sculpture was installed. Its forms were inspired by the architecture firm Diller, Scofidio, and Renfro, the designers of the Granoff Center for Creative Arts.
I orinally created very dense hexagonal aggregations of the unit. Eventually, I learned that I could exploit the strength of the unit and create light membrane-like structures out of my triangular module.
Inpiration for this Project: Diller Scofidio + Renfro's Blur Building
Ten(t)segrity: Steel
I wanted to translate the form from wood to steel in order to install an outdoor sculpture in front of DS+R's design of the Grannof Center for Creative Arts.
I started with 20' long pieces of hot rolled steel with I cut into 40" segments. I soaked these pieces in a simple green solution and then scrubbed away the oil.
I built wooden jigs to help me create the forms. I had one jig to help me bend each peice of steel into a bow shape. Another jig held 3 bows in place while I welded them together.
The final triangular unit was wrapped in plastic and spray painted. When I had all my units, I brought them on site and tied them together to form the final sculpture.
Original Rendering
Final Product
