Client: Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro & Greensboro Science Center

Overview

Soaring overhead across the visitor drop-off point, framing the building entry and creating a dynamic arrival experience, Relativity encourages visitors of the Greensboro Science Center to reflect on their perception of time and space and place on the continuum between the Microcosm and Macrocosm. The massive 32-foot-tall, 74-foot-long, 26-foot-wide, stainless steel structure becomes a beacon at night with programmable LEDs illuminating it from below.

Goals

Greensboro Science Center, together with the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro, sought to create a gateway sculpture as part of the renovation of the Science Center. The intent for the sculpture was to create a monumental building entry experience for visitors approaching the site and to create a moment of wonder before entering the museum.

Process

The project began as Call for Entry issued by CODAworx. We were selected to do an interview with the community in February of 2020, after which our team was selected just weeks before the entire world shut down due to the COVID Pandemic. The design process became entirely virtual as we developed our schematic drawings and engineered the sculpture into reality. For 18 months, our team worked to design and construct the elegant form with a complex system of pipes and spines welded from the inside. The sculpture arrived at the site in three pieces, and over the course of a week, we built the structure on the ground before two cranes hoisted it into place on two concrete footings.

Additional Information

This sculpture is in memory of Marshall Stewart, son of public art project manager, Cheryl Stewart, and Mike Hess, brother of artist, David Hess.