Holographic sky was created by the Design Labs Houston group at the architecture and design firm Gensler. Design labs Houston is a grassroots organization that experiments and works with future technologies and practices in the design industry. The installation was created for Transwestern as part of their artist series. For more information
The Holographic Sky art installation celebrates the grandiose natural light of the architecturally iconic Pennzoil atrium by utilizing reflective, dichroic materials which introduce the vibrant colors of Houston street art into the lobby. The hanging clouds take advantage of the volume of the space while also seeking to bring the scale of the lobby down to the pedestrian level.
Digital Design – Grasshopper with Rhinoceros 3D
The installation was initiated as a way for the group to practice using computational software on a real project. The scope had to be small enough for experimentation but Design Labs Houston was insistent on using parametric software in the design and construction. Grasshopper with Rhinoceros 3D were chosen for the digital design.
We began searching for the right project and came across the artist series hosted by Transwestern in the building Gensler Houston occupies, Pennzoil Place. On being accepted as their next artist, we became inspired by the architecture and wanted to celebrate its primary asset, all of the natural light that washes the atrium.
The initial focus was to create a canopy of some sort over visitors that would give them the impression of being under a prismatic or holographic sky. We wanted to bring color into the lobby in a way that would interact with people and change throughout the day as the sun came in and out. As we further developed the design and became more comfortable with grasshopper, the group decided to move to a more organic shape that would really challenge us in construction and assembly. The new shapes were also a better representation of abstracted cloud formations hanging in the sky.
With the idea in mind, we could move on to grasshopper and begin modeling. By the time we were at the cloud design we had already modeled the first two options above in grasshopper so we were able to recycle the scripting for the fin creation and reuse it in our cloud script.
Grasshopper was an essential tool in the delivery of the project. Throughout the design, we were able to estimate the total cost of the install. Once we purchased the dichroic film material we were able to adjust the scale and density of the clouds to accommodate how much material we had to work with. The program not only helped in the design phase but also during construction.
Construction
We created a template in grasshopper for each cloud that included the frame cut, the string pattern, and the length and location for each fin. Each grid string was hand strung and every fin was hand cut… all 952 of them. We then placed all the fins along the string in their proper place and hung the clouds in the atrium. Although the next day was rainy, the sun made an appearance and we were able to see the installation in full effect.
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