Which One Would You Vote For ?

[Merlion]

Among the three sculpture proposals below, which one would you vote for, as gateways to Wales, UK.

‘Welsh gateway' sculptures unveiled (http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0200wales/tm_headline=--8216-welsh-gateway--sculptures-unveiled&method=full&objectid=19146674&siteid=50082-name_page.html)

Three giant pieces of art that will mark major gateways to Wales were unveiled today.

The designs, described as Wales’s answer to the Angel of the North, have been put forward for lottery money.....

http://images.icnetwork.co.uk/upl/icwales/apr2007/9/1/EBAA76E1-9F99-7E69-B02337836C9E81D9.jpg

http://images.icnetwork.co.uk/upl/icwales/apr2007/3/4/EBC06F06-0B95-40A2-DC5059FF873B39D8.jpg

http://images.icnetwork.co.uk/upl/icwales/apr2007/8/5/EBC59217-068B-33E2-6CF9CD0A97AC2213.jpg

If the application is successful, visitors will see a cloud of 300 flying red human figures after they have driven over the second Severn bridge.

A huge postcard will straddle the A550 in Flintshire – the main road into North Wales.

And three granite pillars will pierce the sky in Holyhead Harbour, on Anglesey, where ferries depart for the Irish Republic.

The three designs were among 106 entries that made it into a shortlist of 15 in the Landmark Wales project which is bidding for more than £13 million from the Big Lottery Fund.....

The creators of The Red Cloud, which will greet drivers before they reach the Severn bridge toll booths, compared it to a flock of swallows....

The swarm of figures with outstretched arms will rest on individual poles of up to 22m.....

A Postcard To Wales will be printed on a 76m-high piece of thin woven fabric and draped across the road near the River Dee. Visitors will be able to climb steel staircases for a close-up look....

Brian Heron, of Ian Ritchie Architects, said he hoped ferry passengers midway across the Irish Sea would be able to see his three glass-tipped granite pillars rising out of Holyhead Harbour....

[GlennT]

Of the three choices presented, I like the first one the best, as it has a good flow of movement and the negative spaces help it to not dominate the view as does the second one. The postcard idea is clever, but it may cause too much distraction or confusion for drivers. Unlike the other two, it does actually represent a gateway, if that matters. The third one is as boring as it gets. Needed is our illustrious member Alisha to add 100 more needles and some texture to turn it into a Sea Urchin. Then we'd have something!

GlennT

[evaldart]

The flying people flags, only good from a distance.
the post card, same problem basicall and up close the it will be nothing, six-foot pixel-blobs fading in the uv's.
And Glenn's right about the granite verticles...not enough presence.
Guess I don't like any of them.
I could make them a set of fancy hundred-foot steel garden gates though...I'm thinking Disney Nouveau; paint them white. I'd do it for a song.

[Scout]

Merlion, I guess if I had to choose, it would be for the first one. Although I can't see that they are figures. It does have a nice unintrusive flow. You didn't say which is your favorite? Or if you even like them. Scout

[ironman]

Hi, I like the first 2, 300 flying red people and the giant postcard.
Actually, I like the postcard the best.
That granite thing is dreck!
Have a great day,
Jeff

[Merlion]

Artistically I would vote for no. 1.

I would add lights shining on them at night, powered by stored solar electricity.

If it is installed, I hope the artist gets good structural advice, not only against wind force, but also against wind induced vibrations.

[ironman]

Hi Merlion, Most (if not all) of these public commissions have to pass through a structural engineering review panel and those issues are addressed.
Have a great day,
Jeff

[Merlion]

I suppose so. They should. But many structural engineers are not familiar with such unusual problems, as they usually work on buildings and other standard structures.

[Ries]

Merlion, I know you are an engineer, so you know that the field is large, with many subspecialties.
Believe it or not, engineering art is one of those specialties.

I work sometimes with a structural engineer who has done many large piece of art, and is quite good at it.
Previous to starting his own firm, he worked with Ove Arup, one of the most adventurous engineering firms in the world.

Besides helping me with some of my goofy projects, he did the engineering on some amazing things like Will Bruders Phoenix Central Library, with its copper panels on the outside-
http://www.willbruder.com/workcultural_pcl.htm

And when he still worked at Ove Arup, he worked on some of Jamie Carpenters glass artworks, which are minature buildings in their complexity-
http://www.jcdainc.com/

He has worked with a dozen or two other demanding, crazy artists who come up with hairbrained schemes that dont seem like they will work.

An engineer like Mike is so used to doing the unusual, and seemingly impossible, that something as straightforward as a small sculpture on a pole, like these flying figures- its no big deal to him.

I am sure there are other engineers like him out there in the world- its a small field, but there are some real pros in it.

[Merlion]

Ries, Thanks for sharing the information and sites of the unusual works of this structural engineer. In a way, the innovative design projects of architects are much more complex structurally than that of sculptors. So if he has good experience tackling the former, he should not find the latter too much of a problem.

On the other hand, sculptors doing big unusual sculptures may not end up engaging and working together with good structural engineers.

I remember the recent structural failures of this very big public sculpture near Manchester, England, due I think to wind induced vibration and resonance.

http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/f/fb/180px-The_B_of_the_Bang,_Manchester.JPG