"Dancing Sky" Permanent Art installation Downtown Phoenix

Dancing Sky: As one walks through this space, looking up through layers of net and fabric, perspectives change and they experience an ever changing and artistic display. The shadows of net and fabric dance around the courtyard as the sun and light shifts through the day. 
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Tensioned Nets -vs- Fabric
One of the major limitations we faced; how to anchor a large scale installation to an existing building that was designed over 30 years ago without fabric structures being added in mind. In order to limit the otherwise tremendous wind loads that a fabric structure would generate, we decided to go forward with a tensioned net structure that would allow the wind to blow through. Though similar in many ways to tension fabric architecture, the use of nets required a fair amount of R&D. We built a scale model of the structure to help study the net system as well as multiple full scale mock ups to help us optimize the form and accurately fabricate the design. 

​The client contacted us because they were looking for something outside the box, some different than a typical tension structure. After a couple rounds of sketches and different concepts, we narrowed in on on this art installation to achieve the project goals.
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     ​​•  One of a kind art piece that would make this space unique.
     •  Large scale art to fill the void in the long courtyard spaces
     •  Use of masts to bring the height above the roof height. 
     •  Anchored to existing building without requiring major structural work.​
     •  Dynamic and abstract complex forms​