Field Conforming Studio in Beijing has designed a multidisciplinary design by installing a steel statue
made of nine hollow columns inside Delong Steel Art Park in Tangshan, China.
Design Features
Created for exhibition at the 2021 Delong Steel Sculpture Art Festival in Tangshan,
the installation is named after the Column Matrix.
The site, located in Delong Steel Art Park, is spacious and flat, near the Bohai Sea,
and was originally a flat tidal wetland, with soil conditions unfavorable for tree growth.
There are many water areas within the park, which provide suitable water and herbal resources for birds to live in, thus becoming a wetland bird sanctuary.
At the same time, the park also forms a strong contrast with the high and impressive industrial facilities of the steel-producing region to its northern side,
and its eastern and western sections are long but extensive, connected by protection forests.
The southern area of the park originally offered a direct view of the sea,
which was interrupted by a new property development consisting of rows of towers.
The garden is vast but with flat terrain, so the property development looks like a large screen right in front of it,
which dominates the horizon and creates an oppressive feeling to the garden.
Field Conforming Studio’s design intention was to create a “landmark” in the park,
to counteract and mitigate the oppressive feeling and visual explosion of the large property development,
or at least to create a visually progressive spatial relationship in the park’s southern area to enhance visual depth.
Steel Sculpture Fixing With Nine Hollow Columns
To this end, the work volumes must extend upwards and form a mass at the same time,
ensuring height and spatial volume, which is the logic behind this design work.
Also, the original plan was to find a relatively higher area within the southern area of the art park,
and to place an array of colonnade erects to create the highest point in the park, so as to counter the real estate development towers in the distance.
Design shape
The square matrix consisted of 9 hollow columns, each surrounded by steel plates,
which were planned to have a length, width and thickness of 7.2 m, 2.2 m and 0.02 m,
the distance between the columns was 1.5 m.
The number of columns and the spacing between columns were determined based on a discounting process through models,
in order to achieve a strong sense of the assembled blocks; however,
the height of each column was reduced from 7.2 m to 6 m in order to save cost, during construction.
This inevitably reduced the overall height of the column array,
but fortunately its effect on the total mass was acceptable because it did not affect the wonderful spatial atmosphere.
According to the design team, public artwork should be given “expressions,” and it should “tell” and convey messages,
while its expressions and narratives need to provoke interaction, and the messages they convey should resonate with people’s everyday experiences and emotions.
The relationship between work and location is important,
the spatial form of the work itself is also essential, but more important is the interaction between work and people.
These three aspects are intertwined in the creativity of the overall artwork,
and therefore must be viewed in a comprehensive way.
While chief designer Hu Quanchun focused on materials, to give this work “expression”,
and to enable it to “tell” and convey messages.
The designer also thought about how to use steel plates
and what messages should be conveyed through this neutral material, which largely depends on users’ concepts and needs.
Steel Sculpture Fixing With Nine Hollow Columns
Steel is undoubtedly a symbol of modern industrial civilization,
but steel plates often give people the impression of coldness, hardness and heaviness.
He decided to give the steel panels a warm, transparent, and lightweight feel,
to make the work offer a sense of comfort and intimacy.
To this end, Hu Quanchun transformed solid steel plates into creeping chrome textures to enclose the column space.
Also, to achieve this effect, the steel plates are processed through a laser engraving and welding process.
At first glance, the vine-like pattern may seem a bit surprising on the site; however,
its true intent is not actually for decoration, but rather for a possible spatial entity.
The concept of creeper chrome was explored in the previous design work of Hu Quanchun.
The landscape creeping up on architecture is often seen in everyday life,
and when the architectural body is separated, the growing state of the creepers
can still reflect the shape of the former architectural space.
For more architectural news
AMAALA unveils unique design for Triple Bay’s new yacht club
