Multi-disciplinary designer & current student in the University of Washington’s Human Centered Design + Engineering Master’s Program.
UX
Evergreen PT
Bitcoin Ballet
Haystack
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Heliconia Loop
Exhibition Fountain
Heartfelt
Cours Sèvres
Haystack Guys
Illustrations
About Me
Heliconia Loop
Date: Summer 2018
Artist: Mark Chai
Engineers: Silman
Tools: Rhino, SketchUp, AutoCAD
Role: Designer & Project Manager
I served as designer and project manager for the fabrication and installation of this piece, created by artist Mark Chai for the New York Botanical Garden’s Georgia O’Keeffe: Visions of Hawai’i show. Our team was responsible for translating the artist’s 2’ balsa wood mockup into this mechanically-attached 18’ stainless steel artwork. The piece had a very short assembly window, and needed to be entirely mechanically fastened for potential reuse and ease of shipping.
The 36 steel ‘blades’ that make up the spiral were all jetcut to my specifications, welded in a cutom jig, and mounted to points on jetcut plates to set them at identical angles. I was responsible for prepping all models, cut files, and installation documents, as well as devising the strategy for the shipping, assembly, and installation of the piece.
![This image shows the mounting strategy for the plates that]()
The image above shows the strategy I developed for mounting the ‘blades’ to the three rolled steel tubes on-site, as the piece needed to be portable and entirely mechanically fastened. The tubes were welded into a truss using a jig for placement, and each truss plate was jetcut with holes to correspond to studs welded to the underside of each stainless blade.
The image above shows the strategy I developed for mounting the ‘blades’ to the three rolled steel tubes on-site, as the piece needed to be portable and entirely mechanically fastened. The tubes were welded into a truss using a jig for placement, and each truss plate was jetcut with holes to correspond to studs welded to the underside of each stainless blade.
Jetcut 1/2” steel plates were used to mount the sculpture to its base. The base structure was engineered to withstand hurricane-force winds.
The ‘blades’ were welded in a custom jig.
The piece was designed to sit in a fountain, and the base was composed of steel I-beams, which were weighted with cast concrete inserts on-site to give the piece the support required.
