AIr Journal Week 12

As a result, we decided to change our material to metal instead. Even though the material would rust in the elements, we decided it would add character to the structure, and also reference the rusty railway lines running a little way north of the road way and also the fences from nearby farms.

After looking at the Shoal Fly By (SIAL), we found a basis for how light and elegant we wanted our structure to be as it floated over the passing cars underneath. We also wanted to recreate the invisible and effortless joints that were within each metal element. We tried to contact the people who designed the Shoal Fly By via email as we could not find an office for them, however they never responded so we were unable to ascertain how they precisely created their joints. This lead us onto a path of almost endless possibilities as we tried to create different methods and ways of joining the metal elements.

Our main priority was not the individual elements that made up the curve, but rather how the curves and arches intersected.

Shortly into our exploration we knew that we were asking a lot for the joint.

It had to be flexible and able to rotate in every dimension, but also had to be rigid to hold the structure together and most importantly, it had to be slim, subtle and sleek.

After we settled on a method of joining the curves, we then looked at how the individual elements would join to make the curve. This was a problem easily overcome with a simple sleave-like technique - something that metal made possible but that wood did not.

In finding metal the easiest material to use to create the important joints and include the effortlessness, weightlessness and elegance we wanted in our structure, metal became the obvious choice for the structure.

Conveniently, the way in which the elements were to be joined fitted in with the process we had previously used in constructing the physical model for our Expression of Interest. It was then determined that this seemed like a feasible and realistic method of construction and was something that we then depicted for our Gateway Project Design Presentation.