top of page
Linktree
URBAN ELEGANCE.
Urban Elegance is an award winning pedestrian crossing and kinetic sculpture inspired by Calder mobiles and Orrery planetariums.
Achieving first place in the INTERPLAY design competition hosted by the Design Education Trust, this piece reimagines the utilitarian design of pedestrian crossings in a way that transforms them into captivating public art installations.You can view the winning presentation at the Royal Society of Sculptors HERE.
Concept vs final.
Final design.
Inspired by Calder mobiles and the bustling Shibuya Scramble Crossing in Tokyo. Urban Elegance wanted to capture and enhance the feeling of anticipation felt seeing the huge crowd form across from you while waiting for the light to change.
The final design was also inspired by orrery planetariums (clockwork models of the solar system) and combined elements of the first set of traffic lights from 1868.
Technical elements.
This project was very technical, requiring advanced gear calculations, Wireless communication using microcontrollers, mechanical design for manufacture, and much more. This really put to use all of my skills as a mechanical engineer and designer which was very rewarding.
Below you can see examples of schematics, renders and rough calculations that all went into the final design
in context RENDERS.
Production
and
Installation.
It was a huge amount of work to manufacture the pieces that made up the final sculpture. The processes used include: pipe bending, milling, turning on a lathe, water jet cutting, 3D printing, TIG welding, application of industrial epoxy, and many more.
This work took place across 3 separate workshops in London and my living room. With the exception of the welding and bending I did all of these manufacturing processes myself.
A huge thank you to everyone who helped me assemble, rig, and install the piece for exhibition in the Hockney Gallery in South Kensington.
It would not have been possible without your support.
presentation.
bottom of page