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Project Details

Fabric 1

Apex
Producer/Manufacturer: Gale Pacific USA Inc.
Primary Use: Main Fabric

Engineer Name 1
Trevor Blackann

Engineer Company 1
GuildWorks

Design Name
Mar RIcketts / Oliva Guethling

Design Company
GuildWorks

Fabrication Name
Trevor Blackann / Mar Ricketts

Fabrication Company
GuildWorks

Graphics Name
Mikele Schnitman, Kris Northern, Goodbeast

Graphics Company
Goodbeast, and LED collaborators

Installation Company
GuildWorks

Please describe the project specifications

The "Migrations" project began as a vision to create a tourable art installation that contemplates the beauty and struggle of human and animal migration (a leading concern on the planet where habit is disappearing). Depicting a large, migratory bird with spread wings, "Migrations" offers shade during the day and a spectacular LED experience at night. The sculpture also served as a gathering place, a wedding ceremony location, and an event backdrop.

This piece is constructed almost entirely of unique curved structural members that form slip-fit joints at the wings. The design was first developed by looking at migratory birds in flight and taking flight, then developing a support structure system that used a central bird body base with additional wing support, allowing for a large cantilever of over 20’ to take flight from the sculpture. The design started with sketching a roughly model in 3d space, then using VR sketching, the lead designers on our team worked in concert on sculpting the 3D form to look interesting and dynamic from every view. The new 3D sketch was reworked into an engineering model, and the next phase of design was developed. Once turned over to engineering the sculptural organic form needed a build method that could use singular curves to make large complex curves in order to be buildable.

From the design engineering stage, our team turned to fabrication, building the full structure in-house, including all welding of the 3D form. Careful creative fixturing was put in place to weld the frame to evoke clean, light airiness while being sure we stayed close to the exact needs of the structural design. We then 3D scanned each part of the structure to produce fabric patterns and made and attached the fabric to fit in record time. The advantage of having a sizeable production space allowed us to work both on subcomponents; the sculpture is designed in 4 main parts that interlink to make it stable and strong. The bird was assembled in its full 20’ high by over 40 wide forms inside our facility to develop all final fabric attachments as well as the LED system before breaking it down and bringing it to the remote playa site at Burningman for its initial showing.

When completed, the large, playful wing reaches 20 feet into the sky, perfectly balanced with the body and the other wing. When placed indoors, the sculpture can stand independently without any additional support. Outdoors, depending on the location, helical anchors or welded steel plates are used to provide the necessary anchoring against any wind load. Meanwhile, the LED system at night makes color patterns against the new fabric that we were excited to be the first to use in the US as it creates a smooth, elegant lighting reflection while being a single-source recyclable material. Migrations has taken flight into it's mission to bring awareness and do so with beauty.

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