Sky Bloom

Buro Happold Consulting Engineers PC, New York, N.Y., United States

“Sky Bloom” is a sculpture at the new Phoenix Civic Space located in Phoenix, Ariz. The net was commissioned under the artistic direction of Janet Echelman, in collaboration with CAID Industries and the Phoenix Arts Commission.

The intention of the artwork is to make patterns of wind visible to the eye. The artist drew inspiration from the desert landscape.

The net sculptures consist of large, somewhat circular draped PTFE nets supported by steel rings. The steel rings are suspended by a series of cables tied to steel masts anchored with tie-down cables to the landscape below. The net itself is an open-weave construction made from woven strands of PTFE fibers that are draped into a sculptural form. The overall net is comprised of a series of sculptural nets and a wormhole net that define the visible form, supported on a structural net whose anticlastic curvature is developed by the hanging weight of the sculpture. The properties of braided sections and the size of the knotted cells of the netting vary throughout the sculpture to respond to the structural requirements under loading and the visual criteria provided by the artist.

The project was a successful collaboration of artists and engineers who are pursuing future projects.