Archives: Projects

Light Pillar will be both an iconic sculpture and a delicate shaft of color within the atrium that will continually change throughout the day. The work promises to transform a journey through the ship into an encounter between the everyday and the sublime. By way of sophisticated algorithmic computation combined with techniques borrowed from traditional methods of textile production and cell animation, Light Pillar’s intricate form will rival the complexity of natural phenomenon. Guests might compare its aesthetics to that of billowing mist in an evening sun.

Constructed from over 10,000 segments of brightly painted stainless steel ball chain, each one unique in length and location, it will be assembled to form an array of “catenaries.” Catenary is the mathematical term that describes the form of a chain hanging between two points. The catenaries will be suspended from thin cables that will be supported by the ceiling structure and guy wired to the walls for stability.

Light Pillar will not be comprehended from a single vantage point; it will appear to change with the viewer’s movement so that it is inherently linked to the trajectory of one’s journeys through the ship. From each level within the atrium it will appear differently to viewers. While the catenaries define Light Pillar, its transparent quality will be constructed from the negative space between the catenaries, which will allow sight to extend into and through the piece to the other side of the atrium: viewers will see people and the architecture of the ship through the artwork. As viewers move up and down the elevators it will also generate the perception that the piece itself is moving – each catenary will appear to shift in orientation relative to its neighbors to give a sense that it is twisting in space – an stroboscopic effect akin to what can be experienced when looking at a zoetrope or cell animation.

Likewise, the colors of the piece will blend and change according to one’s vantage point. Light Pillar might be understood as a composition of gestural volumes of color hovering within the array of catenaries. Like voluminous patterns on a translucent, three-dimensional tapestry, the colors will dissolve into washes then snap into clear geometry with one’s changing vantage point. Light Pillar will invite the visitor to explore its forms by way of movement.

The work will also transform in response to the play of light and changing orientation of the ship throughout the day. Shafts of light will take form within the array of catenaries as if cutting through mist. The reflective qualities of the ball chain, that form the catenaries, will act as miniature convex mirrors, capturing light from all corners of the atrium as well as reflections from the adjacent balls.

Our method of fabricating Light Pillar is akin to a 21st century application of Ikat, an Indonesian term for the ancient textile process of resist dye. A labor-intensive method, Ikat involves the application of vibrant colors to precise locations on individual yarns that, when woven, form a blurry edged pattern. Similarly, we will color our chains individually in precise locations with the aid of a computer controlled, programmable machine of our own design to yield a three dimensional pattern of color. Called the Instal-lator 3, the machine will help us assemble approximately 50 kilometers of chain and cut it to prescribed lengths determined by an integrated software system. The Instal-lator effortlessly performs and seamlessly unifies three distinct operations – measuring, cutting, and marking lengths of chain. It combines these seemingly disparate operations into one continuous sequence of procedures that would be extremely time consuming and tedious for a person to coordinate without its aid. To perfect this process required over six years of continuous research and development.

The shape of the thousands of hanging chains will be computed with a mathematical formula, however the piece will be assembled in our shop and installed in the ship by human hands.

This work references textile production, advanced technology and handcraft while generating effects suggestive of animation and natural light phenomena. Experiencing Light Pillar will be like looking into a gently shifting, colored atmosphere. It will capture the imagination of visitors of all ages and from all cultures.

Faraday Future, an innovative new car company in California, commissioned Ball-Nogues Studio to design the concept for a trade convention exhibit. The project was the backdrop the unveiling of their Zero1 prototype automobile at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in January 2016. The exhibit needed to travel to other events and car shows around the world. Pinnacle Exhibits handled design development, fabrication and install.

Steel
Approximately 25″ x 38″ x 3″
First displayed as part of the ‘Constructions’ Exhibition at Edward Cella Art and Architecture, Los Angeles, CA

Proscenium, an installation comprised of thousands of sweeping lengths of tinted stainless steel ball chain hanging in catenary curve formations, is suspended in the three-story volume of Lincoln Performance Hall’s south atrium. The artwork was designed and fabricated by Ball-Nogues Studio. The project was commissioned through Oregon’s Percent for Art in Public Places Program, administered by the Oregon Arts Commission.

Lincoln Hall, on PSU’s urban Portland campus, was the first building the University occupied when it moved to the South Park Blocks in 1953. It is now the lively center of campus performing arts, housing the Schools of Music, and Theatre & Film, including Lincoln Recital Hall. Proscenium’s colors and forms take cues from theatrical curtain designs while the title refers to the proscenium theater typology with its “proscenium arch” or “fourth wall” separating audience and performer. Part of a series of works by Ball-Nogues entitled “Suspensions,” it is suggestive of the symbol of theatrical illusion – the curtain, while also performing through the activation of illusionistic light and moiré phenomena. The appearance of Proscenium is predicated on the changing qualities in the sky-lit atrium and the movement of the viewer around the piece. Like a gestural volume of color hovering in space, the work is suggestive of brush strokes on a translucent three dimensional canvas that dissolve into washes then resolve back into clear strokes with one’s changing perspective.

Orchard was installed in 2015 and it will fully mature over time.

Parks today are popularly associated with outdoor sports facilities and manufactured playscapes; they are primarily considered places for recreation. By way of landscape design and sculpture, our aim was to reframe El Cariso Park in the context of the agricultural history of the San Fernando Valley.  Orchard recalls Sylmar’s history of olive groves and olive oil production.

The features that define Orchard are a single olive tree set within a sculptural basin and surrounded by apparatuses that reference historic devices used in olive oil manufacturing. The basin is made of “ball-n-socket” pre-cast concrete bricks that nest to form a curving planter that follows the contours of the landscape. The apparatuses tell the story of the primary stages of olive oil production – picking, sorting, pressing, and grinding. Visitors to the park can see the sculpture as a source of food, a platform for education, a place of historical memory, or a landscape for climbing and play. By inviting different interpretations and interactions, Orchard helps familiarize visitors of all ages with the history of the region.

Not Whole Fence pays homage to the simpler days of baseball, riffing on the mythic image of kids to trying to catch a glimpse of the ballgame through a knothole in a wooden fence. Located on a major intersection in El Paso, The work links the ballgame, a playground and the street. It provides the security of a partition, while facilitating coincidental encounters with the game from the sidewalk.

The shape suggests one colossal wood picket turned on its side and wrapped around the stadium, with “knotholes” that are big enough for groups of people to view the game from the sidewalk.

It was fabricated from custom aluminum extrusions. Individual extrusions were CNC milled with a wood grain pattern and anodized a warm copper hue. The grain pattern allows light to pass through the fence while the ribs diffuse the light.

Designers and Principals in Charge: Benjamin Ball and Gaston Nogues

Project Manager: Mora Nabi

Ball-Nogues Project Team: Andrew Fastman, Michael Anthony Fontana, Christine Forster-Jones, Emma Helgerson, Cory Hill, James Jones, Allison Porterfield, Rafael Sampaio Rocha, Forster Rudolph.

Design and Fabrication and Installation Supervision by Ball-Nogues Studio.

Engineering Consultant: Buro Happold Los Angeles, Jean-Pierre Chakar, PE

Specialty Fabrication and Consulting: Neal Feay Co

Installation Consultant: Industrial Stainless International, Tim Downing

Air Garden embodies the qualities of light and space that are unique to Los Angeles. Like the city itself, it does not have a distinct beginning or end; inside or outside; back or front. It is both an object and an atmosphere. Its appearance is not static as it is predicated on changing quality of light in the north light well at any hour of the day.  Air Garden is a serene moment amidst the hectic action and movement within the airport.  LAX is a city among cities that envelops the globe, networked through a system of concourses, gates, terminals and connecting flights; it is an international metropolis of movement.  Air Garden is a pause within this movement; a place for reflection and repose, an opportunity for the traveler to daydream. Within the confines of passport kiosks, security checkpoints, ticket counters, and other forms surveillance and control, it is our aim for this work to engender a sense of freedom

Like most gardens, it cannot be comprehended from a single point of view; and by participating in the ambulatory movement customary to the airport experience; it is inherently linked to the trajectory of one’s journey through the City of Cities. Its components are made of gestural volumes of color hovering within an immense array of catenaries.  These voluminous brush strokes on a translucent three dimensional canvas dissolve into washes of color then snap back into clear strokes with one’s changing perspective. They might be perceived as episodes forming an inconclusive riddle without a definitive resolution even after the complete cycle of one’s journey.  Our hope is that Air Garden procures a mental clearing for the voyager that is a respite from the pressures of travel and produce a felicitous condition for daydreaming.

The work is like a cloud inside the light well, which can be clearly described using a term from chemistry: suspension. A suspension is a heterogeneous fluid or gas with solid particles more or less evenly dispersed within in it.  It is not opaque but more like a ubiquitous fog permeating the space.  Therefore, the Air Garden will not obstruct the viewers’ perspective through the light well nor into the surrounding spaces that showcase the human activities of the airport.  While the environment is interspersed with the metallic bead chain catenaries, it is also constructed from the negative space between the catenaries; sight extends into and throughout the building.

When developing the color composition of Air Garden we looked at the organization inherent in the architecture.  We intend to shape color in three dimensions to echo the architectural order of the Bradley West Terminal by mimicking the shadows cast onto the array of catenaries by the structure members of the light well itself.  We chose two dates at which to cast the shadows, the summer solstice and the vernal equinox.

To better understand the effectiveness of the hovering colored forms within the Air Garden we applied our findings from precursory research on theories of perception.  Testing in Gestalt psychology has proven that our mind puts together what is not explicitly present and imposes meaning and structure on visual input.  These theories support our assumption that the traveler will mentally connect the architectural order of the building across the void of the light well by way of color painted onto the cloud of bead chain. For this reason, we are able to achieve a visual connection without having to precisely replicate the geometry of the building but rather to imply its presence.

The reflective qualities of the bead chain, that form the catenaries, create a sense of vastness through the play of light in space.  Each one is a miniature convex mirror, capturing light from all corners of the space as well as from the adjacent balls.  The project evokes a sense of immensity through this reflective dance of color and light.  The consistent repetition of highlights on each bead produces a condition of being ensconced in a place that is both proximate and seemingly vast.
Los Angeles is a region full of creative opportunity and innovation; Air Garden represents these characteristics.  Here, creative economies thrive.  The real meets the unreal and Air Garden is a metaphor for this through its presence as both painted gesture and atmosphere.  Much like the infinite space in a traveler’s momentary lucid daydream, Los Angeles is a boundless expanse.  Our city seems limitless when coasting its highway’s smooth curves that beautifully pattern its extensive landscape with measured grace and elegance.  Air Garden embodies the sublime qualities of the utopian paradise we call home, Los Angeles.

Credits:
Artist and Designer: Ball-Nogues Studio
Commissioning Agency: City of Los Angeles, through its Department of Cultural Affairs and its Department of Airports

Fabricator: Ball-Nogues Studio
Structural Engineer: Buro Happold, Los Angeles
Custom Software: www.sparcestudio.com
Rigging: LA Propoint

The Fact of Seeing Without Sense
Ball-Nogues Studio, 2014
Stainless steel ball-chain, aluminum, paint