W

Just over a year ago, I finished a job in Atlanta with Dennis Lin Studio. We made two trips to the brand new W Hotel in downtown core just around the corner from the olympic park.  The first visit into the heart of The South in early November found us smack-dab in the middle of the -Yes We Can- election.  The city was electrified by the energy of people hoping for change.  It seemed every other street corner had believers thrusting placquards in the air and shouting -Vote Now- and other such democratic reminders.  On election night, the four of us Canadians watched the vote count drinking beer and smoking Camels on the balcony with the motel tv facing the open door.  The air was warm and when Mr. Obama was called president car horns erupted and honked until morning.

Dennis was contracted through Burdifilek in Toronto to give some soul to the main public spaces of the hotel/condo complex.  His vision was to hang thousands of shimmering bird like mobiles from the 50 foot ceiling and partially cage them in with huge bands of twisting ribbons of thin wood.  This wonder would fill the glass walled  lounge located on the corner of the main floor.

In addition to this was the wall.  I was contracted to build 170 feet of curved solid walnut wall eleven feet tall.  The wall wound its way from the main entrance to the concierge desks.  I built the wall and Dennis and his crew carved it to mimmic draped fabric.  Around 5000 board feet of solid black walnut, most of it locally grown and milled, defined the volume of the task.

Here is a fraction of what we played with.

The contractors on site in Atlanta shipped us templates of the wall curves.  The templates, as we discovered upon arriving on site, were not as accurate as they could have been, but we  scrambled to make the pieces fit as we massaged the installation.

The process to make the curves was a game of angles.  A total of 86 panels each 2 ft wide and 11 feet tall were glued up to match the curves of the templated walls.  The process was like wooden barrel making, coopering.  The long sticks  of walnut were ripped with a very slight angle.  The sum of the angles makes the curve, not unlike the principles of calculus describing the curve of a line with a series of small short lines brought to the infinitesimal.

The panels looked like this.

.. and the carved panels.

.. and hanging on the wall.

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