“I See What You Mean”, is a monumental sculpture by Lawrence Argent installed in Denver, CO in 2005 at the Colorado Convention Center. I was Director of Digital Fabrication at Kreysler & Associates during its construction.
The two kinds of fabrication lines are shown: assembly joints (shown as black lines around panels), and parting lines (shown as green lines).
The sculpture’s design was provided as a mesh model, from which engineering was done, molds were milled, and architectural drawings and shop drawings were made. However, rather than the drawings or computer models, the most frequently used representation during fabrication was the maquette.
The maquette’s condition attested to its utility. Assembly joints and parting lines were drawn in pen and pencil.
The maquette became a means of tracking panels in fabrication. It was essentially the shop drawing: not a digital twin but a physical one.
The it was used to design the construction logic: the parting lines and assembly joints. Assembly joints were permanently joined during fabrication. Parting lines allowed shipment and installation on site.
Still in its EPS foam mold, this panel shows a parting line constructed as a flange.
For strength, parting lines intersected assembly joints (panel edges) at their midpoint. Panels were made of fiberglass and polyester resin layup on CNC milled EPS foam molds. Tool paths were permitted to leave linear marks in the finished piece as both sculptural expression and a means to expedient milling via a large step-over distance.
A view up into the bear shows transverse bulkheads for stiffness, intersected by the web of assembly joints.
Once assembled the individually constructed panels were indistinguishable, leaving only the keyed, bolted flanges separable for shipping and re-assembly on site.
The green string lines represent the ground plane and facade of adjacent building to guide assembly.
“I See What You Mean” is a hybrid construction: the Bear has a steel sub-structure up to its waist and is a monocoque structure from there up, as shown in elevation drawings above.
The sculpture shipped on five flatbeds.
Each of the pieces were light enough to be handled, skillfully, with a couple of forklifts and loaded on to trucks.
Because of its modular design, ‘I See What You Mean’ was installed in two days.
The light weight of its composite components allowed for erection using light-duty lifting and a small crew.
Taken soon after installation, this is a view now obscured by mature trees.
I visited it for SIGGRAPH 2024, nearly twenty since its installation, and the Big Blue Bear is in good condition. It’s rough, post-applied texture has permitted repairs and withstood its use by the public as a city landmark.