South Bellevue Station: Column Wrap Imagery
As an elevated platform, the South Bellevue Station, sits on several twenty-foot tall columns. The pedestrian experience under the platform is dominated by these massive columns. In order to add a sense of human scale to this space, we wrapped the columns with leaf imagery.
This before and after shows how the columns are transformed by leaf imagery.
The column patterns were developed by processing an image of a leaf taken at the site. The image was processed into a pattern of overlapping hexagons developed through a digital design process. We made a definition in Grasshopper, a plugin for Rhino, that transformed images into abstracted hexagon patterns. This approach was inspired by the elemental building blocks of nature, pointillism and current technology.
Transforming leaf imagery with technology creates digital patterning.
The leaf wraps scale the columns as the smaller hexagons build larger sections of color to create a pointillist image. The leaf images rotate around the columns adding a dynamic sense of motion to the space. As one walks through the site the images will be constantly moving around and activating the columns.
The leaf wraps rotate around the columns.
Team Credits:
Alexandr Polzin
Client:
Cool! How is the image transferred to the concrete column at the jobsite?
The column wraps are transferred to the columns by using self-adhering stencils. The images
will be painted on site.
How will the gradations from green to yellow be achieved?
They will spray the transitions. It should be fairly straight-forward. We will provide our pattern maps.
Here’s a link to a smart spray paint can: http://www.gizmag.com/smart-spray-paint-computer-aided-mural-dartmouth/42715/
It might be useful for this project if it’s available to the public yet.