Viento De Mar Composition 1 & 2

The Design Loft Inc., St Louis, Mo., United States

“Viento De Mar” (Wind of the Sea) is a two-part sculpture. Composition 1 is installed in the lobby of the Hilton San Diego Bayfront. The sculpture is fabricated from stainless steel shimmer cloth attached to a ceiling channel system 1202' in length. The woven channel design is reminiscent of rope weavings created by men who stayed months at sea. Viento De Mar also evokes the ethereal nature of invisible sea breezes and the ebb and flow of sea currents.

Composition 2 is installed in the north/south lobby promenade of the hotel. The sculpture is fabricated from stainless steel shimmer cloth attatched to a channel system 600' in length. The design incorporates sea images by suggesting the logarithmic spiral pattern of a nautilus. Both parts of the sculpture incorporate a light system that creates mood through changes in color and intensity of light on the fabric.

The difficulty of this project was the use of the stainless shimmer cloth. Because the cloth has little structure, it's almost like a “liquid” material. To prevent distortion, all seams and pockets were handturned at the tables and then carefully moved to the sewing machines. The fabric was then laid out a second time to measure and adjust as needed. The channel pattern had 106 channel crosses that were a specfic distance from floor to fabric. As this track system was a double track, the fabric needed to match in length to the parallel run. There was more than 9,000 square ft of fabric in Composition 1, and Compositon 2 had all the same fabric challenges, with the exception that the six pieces had continuous lengths of 105' to 140' with widths of 12.0 to 1.5 and height changes every 5'-8'. The challenge was moving these lengths and not distorting the shape of the fabric. Again, the fabric was hand turned; sewn and laid out a second time for adjustments. Composition 2 also had a double track system. There was 3002 sq ft of fabric designated for this section of the sculpture.