Custom Flatirons Sculpture

A custom sculpture that I designed in Solidworks that is currently being manufactured using steel pipes. The goal of the design was to be geometric, unique, and only display the Flatirons from one perspective.

I had a ton of fun with this sculpture and I learned a lot about creating reference geometry, 78 different planes were used to create the final design.

Background

This project was brought to me by a friend whose coworker wanted a "weird sculpture" created as a gift for a colleague.

The images on the left were sent as inspiration along with the goal to subtly reference the flatirons.

I focused on making the piece as unique as possible while leaving space to incorporate mountains towards the end of the process.

Challenges

  • Making an abstract but visible design

    • The main challenge in creating this piece was making sure the flatirons were visible, but abstract enough that they were not immediately noticed. I got around this by creating around 60% of the sculpture before beginning to create the triangular peaks. I also added pipes to one side of the sculpture so the view of the lower peaks was obscured from most angles.

  • Manufacturability

    • The sculpture needed to be unique but manufacturable. All pipes along the base are created using whole inches to ease the job of the welder. Some pipes are in place purely for structure so the sculpture remains sturdy through manufacturing and transport.

Front view (top) and back view (bottom) of the sculpture

Results

The design was completed and sent to a manufacturer where it will be completed within the coming months. I am excited to see what my design looks like in real life.

This experience taught me a lot about customer relations and tailoring a project to a client. I hope to use this experience in Senior Design as well as possibly design other art pieces in the future.