BOISE TREE SCULPTURE
Lead Designer – Production Manager – Installation Coordinator
DESIGN PROCESS
St. Luke’s Hospital was building a new children’s clinic and wanted to create a series of themed projects. I had the opportunity to be the lead designer on these projects and create the some of the most prominent artistic structures in Boise. St. Luke’s wanted some large trees on the side of their building to compliment the animal sculptures that were going in.
I created a geometric tree pair that would compliment the animals that would be surrounding them.
Once I had an approved concept, I traced my sketch into the computer and created a 3D model of the trees that used acrylic, steel and aluminum to create a unique sense of depth.
FABRICATION AND INSTALLATION
Once I had completed the final design for the trees, I began breaking it into parts for fabrication. With the proposed sectional building plan, the tree ended up being over 2000 pieces which all had to be cut welded and dry fit prior to install.
After the pieces had been cut and sent to Ken McCall for welding we did a last dry fit in the parking lot prior to paint and storage.
As a company, we had 2 days to install all of the animal sculptures and the large tree sculpture. The pieces started showing up at 5 am on Saturday and went through to 7pm on Sunday. The install went off without a hitch and is now a gem on the landscape of Boise. The Trees are 67′ tall and go 5 stories up the side of the St. Luke’s Children’s Pavilion. It is the tallest art structure in Idaho and adds a beautiful splash of color to downtown.