In preparation for the install at The New SLC this summer, the team here at Gordon Huether Studio ran through the steps necessary to assemble the roughly 16-foot-tall Column Plates installations. These massive structures required specially-designed equipment to position each individual column “plate”, which can be up to 18′ at their widest point, and are stacked in sequence to create the overall Column Plates‘ structure. In order to accomplish this, each “plate” had to be placed in parts, one half of a plate at a time, and bolted to an interior steel support structure.

As part of the mock up, the team developed a custom “Cradle” that would meet the airport’s distinct height and weight limitations. The load limitations in particular prevent us from using heavy equipment, such as a forklift or other standard lifting mechanisms, that would typically be used on an installation such as this.  The team also developed different custom movement and shipping mechanisms that will be refined and used for the final install.

Due to the limitations of the site, we were presented with a variety of situations that complicate this installation. We were forced to think outside of the box, and to develop methods that stay within the airport’s specific restrictions. This mock up was very informative to make some last minute adjustments to fabrication, develop a detailed shipping plan, and work through the fine details of the installation on site.

Installation of Column Plates is expected to begin June 1st, 2020.