Orbital, a public artwork in San Francisco’s Mission Bay district, uses metal in geometric ways more commonly seen in science fiction.
An impactful, iconic and memorable structure has a binary “inside outside” experience
Designed by San Francisco-based art and design studio Futureforms, the structure is composed of three coiled legs that spiral toward the sky. The exterior surface is defined by stainless steel origami skins, while the interior space is wrapped by a vortex of colorful tactile aluminum shingles.
“Orbital spirals into the sky, formed by a curved trajectory around the center of the sculpture, in order to create a place beneath it,” says Futureforms founder and lead artist Jason Kelly Johnson. “The exterior and interior skins of the structure are geometrically similar, but materially distinct tessellated and shingled modules. The highly reflective exterior is contrasted by a tactile and colorful interior. On the outside, a perforated, high-definition surface articulates a towering structure that anchors the site, is visible from afar, and attracts and provides visual identity. On the inside, a surprising vertical color field encourages visitors to pause, look up, experience and interact with pattern and form in a dramatically different way.” Futureforms developed the parametric 3-D models for the project, which were used for visualization, analysis, prototyping and fabrication.
Richmond, Calif.-based Seaport Stainless produced the majority of the 316 marine-grade stainless steel sheet metal parts for Orbital. “We laser cut, bent and installed rivet nuts for the internal structure, mounting brackets and the outer skin panels,” says Ryan Doving, vice president at Seaport Stainless. “Before fabrication actually started, we spent quite a bit of time going back and forth with the designers at Futureforms to make sure that all of the CAD files were formatted correctly and had all of the relevant bend information in a format that matched our internal shop standards.”
Santa Barbara, Calif.-based Neal Feay worked on the spiraling, colored anodized shingles. “We did the CAM work, CNC cutting, laser cutting, graining and anodizing all in house … on our three-axis vertical mills. We also worked with Jason’s team to refine the color scheme,” says Alex Rasmussen, Neal Feay owner.
San Leandro-based Olson Steel fabricated and installed the 33-foot-tall stainless steel tube skeleton. “This included procuring all the stainless-steel material, cutting the 600-plus parts, assembling the three legs and crown, and all the welding and bolting for the structure,” Dylan Olson, president at Olson Steel says. “We also assembled and installed various support pieces on the structure that would serve as attachment points for the stainless-steel origami skins and colorful shingles. The biggest challenge was translating the 3-D design files to communicate with our CNC equipment and layout for laser scanning. The stainless-steel parts were fabricated in Olson’s shop utilizing CNC equipment to a 1/8-inch tolerance. We are pretty proud of that.”
San Leandro-based Olson Steel fabricated and installed the 33-foot-tall stainless steel tube skeleton. “This included procuring all the stainless-steel material, cutting the 600-plus parts, assembling the three legs and crown, and all the welding and bolting for the structure,” Dylan Olson, president at Olson Steel says. “We also assembled and installed various support pieces on the structure that would serve as attachment points for the stainless-steel origami skins and colorful shingles. The biggest challenge was translating the 3-D design files to communicate with our CNC equipment and layout for laser scanning. The stainless-steel parts were fabricated in Olson’s shop utilizing CNC equipment to a 1/8-inch tolerance. We are pretty proud of that.”
