TRYST IIT Delhi Decoration Work : The 3D Logo
Material Selection:
The support structure: Now this is big issue. A 3m by 3m structure is a huge one to be handled, both during making stage and delivering stage.
“Should we go for bamboo? Not sure if its joints will stay strong throughout making, transporting and display stages. Should we go for PVC pipes or Metal pipes, joining by glue or welding for angular joints? Who will do welding? Do we have enough time for joining details of pipes? What about cutting in different shapes in case of emergency sizing decisions? Is it possible to de-assemble them when required? Will it be easy to transport once completed?” These all questions kept on banging again and again.
One fine day, while walking though campus, I saw the answer standing in front of me. I saw ’Slotted angles’ with wires used as fence wall for flowers and shrubs in campus garden. It clicked me, Slotted angles will be perfect for our work, they are lightweight, can be assembled easily, cut easily with hand saw plus they had slots for ropes which will make our work easier.
Top Surface: From reference images, we were positive to go for threads/ropes. What color? The answer was we wanted to represent energy, similar to color variations of thermal energy in hot metal, yellow-orange-red. Thickness such that the rope lines are bold enough to be visible from distance, moreover they should be able to pass through slots in slotted angles as we were looking forward for smart work and not endless hard work.
The not so BIG shock.
While purchasing, we were shocked to learn that the commonly available sizes for slotted angles was 2 meters. 😐 😐 Running out of time, we did not had liberty to make special orders for 3 m sizes. We decided to rework on dimensions on the shop itself, setting the longest length as 2m , we proportionately reduced all other dimension and bought slotted angles- 10 pieces, nut bolts for joints, hand saw and pliers.
The work started, students were enthusiastic to size, cut, bolt and made the structure in first hour itself. Worked with color combination, tried ribbons in place of ropes but since ribbons are flat, they twist which does not look good. Ropes twist too but since they are circular, their twist is not visible. Added 4 bracings on base square to make structure more stable (bought 1 or 2 more angles). Colored the slotted angles to pure black as we wanted focus only on bold colourful lines forming hyperbolic paraboloid. Eventually, work finished. Transported it easily by lifting ourselves and took it to desired place.
Setting Perfect Stage:
The place we chose was in front of our newly built Lecture Theatre Complex because its glass facade was icing on the cake as one could see the reflection of our work on its glass. Moreover, since the approach road to LHC had good length and one could see the work from a distance, the visitor gets ample time to get amused, amazed and appreciate it.
Special thanks to Rishav and Chetna, my fellow coordinators of Creative team, who were there throughout in this process, in every step. Thanks to Core Team for their support on letting us do what we wanted (though convincing was not easy job). This project would not have been possible without passionate and hardwork of all the facche who spent their nights in making this idea turn into reality. Special mention awesome Team Dogra. Love them all.
Let me know what do you feel about this project. If any further explanations required or any suggestions (or compliments will work too 😉 ) and share these post as much as you can, we expect nothing else in return. Thank you!
Check previous page for Inspiration and Sizing