Client: Austin Bergstrom International Airport and the City of Austin, TX Cultural Arts Division

Overview

Plume, a permanent public art installation, was commissioned by the Austin Bergstrom International Airport and the City of Austin Cultural Arts Division. At 24 feet tall, it reimagines the ancient obelisk. The interior features a robotically 3D-printed matrix painted iridescent purple, wrapped with exterior panels of over 5000 feet of 3/8-inch hand-bent aluminum rods with matte and reflective anodized finishes. Its unique form, layered materials, and intricate patterns capture Austin’s vibrant spirit and the slogan “Keep Austin Weird,” while reflecting the complexity of modern air travel.

Inspired by the iridescent feathers of the Grackle, a common Austin bird, and ephemeral jet contrails, Plume’s appearance changes with perspective and time. Like a feather’s iridescence or a dissipating contrail, Plume’s visual effects vary. Specular reflections from each rod distort the context, intertwining with diffuse reflections from the purple interior, enhancing its elusive and ever-changing effect. On approach, the solid obelisk transforms to lines which resemble airplane flight paths. On sunny days, it shimmers, reflecting the sky and surroundings, while on cloudy days, it appears aloof and heavy. At night, the illuminated interior glows, appearing to hover while the exterior fades.

Goals

Plume was located specifically by the artists and integrated into the surrounding landscape and functional elements of the airport as a complex environmental, social and cultural condition. Conceptually the project was developed with its rich context in mind and the project was realized to reflect this complexity.
“What is complexity? for something to be complex it must be "entwined" or "embraced.” Thus, complexity requires two or more distinct parts that are joined in such a way that it is difficult to separate them. A reduction to parts alone would never fully reveal the result of such an assemblage—and "by taking apart the components it [would] destroy [its] connections” (Gershenson 2004).
Plume embodies the fundamentally complex quality of being simultaneously distinct and singular as an object yet interconnected as a complex assemblage of parts. The project is an exploration of complexity in relation to computationally enabled craft and material assemblies across a range of scales and interacting layers. Building the structure necessitated the use of both ubiquitous and bespoke elements that work together to yield visual and spatial effects. The complex assemblage of elements is as critical to the project as the development and refinement of its manufacturing methodology.

Process

The process of fabrication and assembly, employing both digital and analog methods, played a pivotal role in shaping the work's formal, structural, and experiential concept, while also enriching its aesthetic qualities.
The project is part of an ongoing design and research collaboration which is focused on the conceptualization and translation of complexity. The work leverages computational design methods and digital prototypes with hand craft synthesized into a site-specific work of art. The work is composed of a robotically 3D printed interior matrix wrapped with hand-bent aluminum rods. To achieve the rounded corners of the overall form and due to the sheer number of parts and bends, the fabrication of the rods is constrained to 2d bends. Each rod is bent in two axes while custom laser cut aluminum brackets set the variable spacing and support panel-to-panel assembly. Bespoke 3D printed parts link together to join rods into a patchwork of larger panels. The circular section of the individual rods, combined with the larger panel bends at the edge of the obelisk form, reflects and distorts the environmental and programmatic context.

Additional Information

This work is created to synthesize material, technical and conceptual complexity to create effects which interact with its environment and with the people who move through the space toward the airport terminal. Beyond its specificities, it is worth noting the general level of craft and material development which are deployed to achieve this novel, specific result.