engineering.
From 2012 onwards, Tyréns AKT has been supporting the international artist DeWitt Godfrey with this series of site-specific sculptures which have so far been realised across the US, UK and Europe. Our research team, p.art, has produced a bespoke software toolkit, collaboratively with the artist, to enable the artworks’ design and delivery.
Tyréns AKT has provided a bespoke computational toolset to enable this series of permanent public sculptures.
Across the series, each sculpture has been realised through a combination of traditional craft together with modern digital technology. Conceptually, the series centres around community engagement, while at the same time grounding each artwork in the environment, both in terms of its literal setting as well as its embodiment of the abstract geometry that’s found throughout our natural world.
All of this began with a three-year research project, which was led by Godfrey, that brought together researchers, mathematicians and engineers with the aim to explore the application of computation within the creative artistic process; the objective was to achieve structures that reflect the complexity of natural systems.
Over the subsequent years, Tyréns AKT’s team has then supported Godfrey in dissecting his creative process, as part of developing the proprietary computational methodology and toolset that’s now enabled this series of works. The bespoke software provides a computational platform for creating the geometry and evaluating its structural behaviour, and allows Godfrey to rapidly iterate and optimise each sculptural form, complete with live feedback on the design’s structural performance. The software also automatically generates all of the sculpture’s fabrication specifications, cutting templates, connection details and assembly specifications.
Altogether, this collaboration has so far given birth to many new ‘evolutions’ (iterations) of the original ‘seed’ (concept), including Odin (2015), Enspire (2017), Folly (2018), Blake (2018), Speirein (which was exhibited at the 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale), and Beken (2022), as well as a forthcoming installation at Portland International Airport. The collaboration has also grown to engage many further additional contributors, with each artwork responding uniquely to its context, constraints and other forces.
Folly (2017)
Enspire (2017)
Blake (2018)
Speirein (2021)
Beken (2022)
