What was the hardest sculpture to create from a technical standpoint, and why? My team pulls them into tension so that they can withstand immense forces of nature. These panels are then attached to rope structures and usually lifted into space using cranes. Once we have these knotted net panels, we incorporate different colors to create patterns within the work. These are old human technologies passed down from generation to generation. The ropes are then all hand-spliced together with methods that have been used for hundreds of years to construct boats in the maritime industry. We use a variety of other fibers to create the braided twine for the soft layers of each sculpture. We achieve that by using highly engineered materials, including a fiber that NASA used for the Mars Rover called ultrahigh-molecular-weight polyethylene, which is custom-braided into structural ropes. They have to be able to withstand winds of a Category 5 hurricane. In terms of the physical construction, my sculptures appear delicate yet are incredibly strong. This is not the standard – building departments typically analyze solid buildings made of things they know, like steel and concrete – so this is really pushing everyone to work in new ways. So it’s actually quite an endeavor to analyze such unusual structures that are both porous and fluidly moving. My team and I have engaged in a decade of development of original computer software to do soft-body modeling of our sculptures, which allows us to design our 3D netted forms while understanding the constraints of our craft, showing response to the forces of gravity and wind.Įvery element – every line of twine, and every knot – is modeled in terms of its thickness, stiffness, weight and density. ![]() Janet Echelman (contact The Conversation for photo rights) The 3D digital model of ‘Bending Arc,’ Echelman’s sculpture in St.
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