PHYSICS: A NEW PERSPECTIVE

ART PHYSICS FABRICATION HISTORY LITERATURE

WHAT MAKES A 60-FOOT SCULPTURE STAND?
CLICK THROUGH THE DOCUMENTS BELOW TO EXPLORE THE PLANNING PROCESS BEHIND AND YOU, SEAS.


Force = mass x acceleration, but it wasn’t quite that simple for And You, Seas. Richard Hunt and a team of engineers had to consider carefully not only the force of strong winds off of Lake Michigan but also the weight of the massive sculpture and the sandy material underneath when designing the foundation for the sculpture.

And You Seas - First Draft Sketches Page 1
And You, Seas - First Draft Sketches Page 2
And You, Seas - Computer Engineering Drawings
And You, Seas - Hand DrawnNotes and Equations
DRAFT 1 SECTION DRAWING
DRAFT 1 SECTION DRAWING: For many sculptures like And You, Seas, a carefully planned foundation is a necessary part of the design process. This hand-drawn sketch details the first concept for the foundation of And You, Seas: a mat foundation. After studying the site and working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the team realized a different support system would be necessary.
DRAFT 1 PLAN DRAWING
DRAFT 1 PLAN DRAWING: A mat foundation is a large, continuous slab of reinforced concrete that spreads the pressure of the load on top of it across the surface below. It is often used for areas where the soil is unstable or the ground might move. The original mat foundation planned for And You, Seas would have succeeded in distributing the pressure of the sculpture wide across the soil underneath, but it also would have put additional pressure on the wall of the channel nearby.

Documents courtesy of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Chicago, IL.
FINAL ENGINEERING CONCEPT
FINAL ENGINEERING CONCEPT: A deep foundation distributes loads down under the surface of the ground using a vertical structure – in this instance, piles, which are like poles. The new pile foundation design prevents the pressure of the sculpture from pushing outward across the ground and instead directs the load deeper underground much like the foundation of a skyscraper.

Documents courtesy of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Chicago, IL.
NOTES & EQUATIONS
NOTES & EQUATIONS: Ever wonder why your teachers made you show your work? These handwritten notes and equations explain the designers’ process for identifying how many piles (or poles) would be needed to support And You, Seas and how much force they would bear.

Documents courtesy of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Chicago, IL.
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