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.
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8bb8ec056128510c2086dc1767dd8f9f7bd0ec0d1cf72265d1ecae55d566f3fd/heliconia.jpg)
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.
![This image shows the mounting strategy for the plates that](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/6bba03688eaa16ea07d2bd3103447091436d76e10ae8a49ae05f61791b86daa4/heliconia3.jpg)
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.
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9582cc030a3e0ef697999edae6a9ea97a8b6c75223784ba23d4cf89c780a5dac/heliconia2.jpg)
Jetcut 1/2” steel plates were used to mount the sculpture to its base. The base structure was engineered to withstand hurricane-force winds.
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/86c1e645e6aa8ca3d42537bbbdc304119af32e1984862f9414b57ec6f801bf9f/IMG_20180329_160323477_HDR.jpg)
The ‘blades’ were welded in a custom jig.
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/45f82631a66ea8e4f7d4614ae1939aac730d1d8127ae38c71e473edaa3996346/20180425-HELICONIA-LOOP-SET-2.png)
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.
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/784e14c56c9721eff56d8d2cfbb93fead1da973ba46ab374d244e7d53c666302/IMG_20180423_122324252_HDR.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/35afd54b3d3654107805e81d473cf2851d6c6b6277507cded2b5d9b41fd95f2c/IMG_20180424_091422637_HDR.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/4a7c2f81d30aa690b640b08ac999f5f083b5e9931ea40c0885556c4f05e6f81f/IMG_20180501_160012595_HDR.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/034e576b616cb1e7b895f0306266756722bf24e8a93271309c209ff82010841a/installheliconia.jpg)