As people descend the stairs, they become part of the installation—their movement interacts with the suspended forms, creating a continually changing, kinetic sculptural experience.

 

As the design instructor of an immersion course called, Materials, Display, and Communication at Cornell University, I worked with a team of four design students to design a 70’ vertically suspended sculpture that visually connects 7 floors in a glass-enclosed stair tower.  The recently-built spiral glass stair tower connected two previously disparate wings of the Cornell University MVR building and provided stunning views of the surrounding campus.  The designers conducted a series of light studies, user interviews, and observation studies to understand the full gamut of experience within the stair tower space. A critical insight was that building occupants used the stair tower not only for transit, but also for mid-day distraction and contemplation with the incredible views from the glass-enclosed tower. These insights led to the team’s aim of leveraging natural light and materiality like a prism to create incredible patterns of color within the tower.  I worked directly with the design fabricators at Yellow Goat Design to develop the final design installation.