The Floating Piers

Christo and Jeanne-Claude, New York, USA

Location

Lago Iseo, Italy

Scale

1:1250

Task

  • The Exhibition Model should convey the interplay between the artwork and the landscape from a bird’s-eye view.
  • The Model should give a sense of the art project’s dimensions.
  • The starting point is a predefined section of the topographical map.

My solutions

  • On the basis of work models I stepwise developed scale, representation, and degree of abstraction, so that the striking landscape would be clearly evident. The Model’s height gradients build an angular surface which emphasizes the play of light and shadow.
  • The six-meter long Model can be dismantled into transportable sections so that the junctions of the sections, which are embedded in the landscape, are thereby barely visible.
  • Painted tissue paper draped over Perspex is used to replicate the fabric covering of the original artwork.

Fabrication process

abrasive techniques (laser, 5-axis milling cutter, manual woodwork and plastics processing)

In cooperation with

Eggimann Holzfertigung, Ramsei, Switzerland

Testimonial

«He is my model maker.»
– Christo