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New American Public Art (NAPA) is a multidisciplinary design-build studio working at the forefront of public space and art. This is the second in a three part series, covering the construction phase of the “Ourself” project. Pt.1 can be read here.
The construction phase of Ourself was particularly exciting, as the NAPA team utilized nearly every department at NextFab as well as using the warehouse space next door to the 2025 Washington Avenue facility for their build space. Having a large open space was critical to the build. Being next door to all of the expertise and equipment at NextFab meant that every minute of the short schedule could be utilized and alterations and tweaks could be done quickly and easily. Among the departments used were the wood shop, the metal shop, 3D, and electronics.
The NAPA team fully embrace the “open source” philosophy, and in that spirit, were kind enough to share their process with us for this blog.
What follows is a step by step break down of the process employed for Ourself:
A virtual 3D model was created in Sketch Up. This “model” encompassed a level of detail down to the nut and bolt specifications. This allowed the team to work through many potential problems and resolve them prior to purchasing any materials. With consideration of shipping and transport logistics, raw material weights and sizes, production methods (i.e. handcrafted pieces, CNC pieces), a preliminary budget was realized.
“As we solidified the design from the initial sketch it was necessary to prototype the materials, because as we say ‘To build is to know’.”
The prototyping process was extensive. Since the project involves many static and dynamic elements, testing was required for material compatibility and usability, process viability, integration and robustness (public installation requires substantial robustness!)
A good example of the material testing process is the wood that clads the outer sides of the piece. The prototype began with facade paneling made up of wooden slats. After assembling the slats on a backer board in the studio they found that the wood was too irregular and heavy, making the entire assembly too unwieldy. Searching for another solution, the team tested an artificial paneling material which proved to have undesirable aesthetic qualities and utilized a glue with unpredictable qualities. Finally, NAPA landed on stained and sealed plywood. The plywood maintained the positive qualities of the other materials while minimizing the problems, a beautiful solution.
The same testing process was used for the lighting, the occupancy sensors (sensors in the central platform that detect when an observer is inside of the structure), the proximity sensors (sensors that detect an observer approaching), the audio and its components and all of the electronic cabling and other parts that make it all work.
After the prototypes were sorted and final materials were approved, the electronic “brain” was assembled. The brain was comprised of all of the electronic elements, inclusive of Arduino micro controllers, sensors, audio and lighting.
“This required lots of wire stripping, cutting, soldering, some custom 3D printing, and further testing after final assembly with the entire final electronic setup of XLR cables, microwave sensors, load cell sensors, power supplies, LEDs, and audio.”
All of the electronics were housed in watertight housings and linked with XLR connectors.
“This step could have been incredibly complicated if not for collaboration with NextFab. The fact that the NextFab warehouse was empty and adjacent to the shop, not only simplified logistics, it allowed for advanced design decisions,” relates Dan Sternof Beyer, “For instance: If we had a warehouse 5 miles from NextFab it would change the order of operations in production. The large amounts of raw material would have needed to be transported back and forth between shop and warehouse between fabrication steps. To cut down on transportation, various design decisions would have been made to expedite each trip, which would no doubt change the materials and custom parts. Decisions like this tend to create more typical and [conventional] designs.” Fortunately the design was neither typical or “safe” due to the high level of customization and flexibility afforded by the in-house capabilities of NextFab.
Having worked out the materials, means of production, production space and build requirements, the NAPA team refined the model to properly represent changes that were made and production realities, “At this point the model needed to be fully baked, as the next step is to order the raw materials, and all steps from here on out will be referencing the model. A re-examination of production process of the pieces is conducted and each piece’s production is evaluated. Acknowledgment of custom pieces and manual labor needed in fabrication is determined and final tolerances are baked into the model.”
“Purchasing the raw materials is always scary as it is the first major outlay of money and you have to have a lot of trust in your design process and confidence in the final model.”
After the completion of the final model version, materials were purchased. The scale of the two installations, and their complexity, meant that the material list was extensive. In order to work efficiently within the time constraints of the project, a high degree of material organization was required.
“Large piles of raw wood, steel, aluminum, nuts / bolts, 80/20, light channels, mirrors, and accessories arrived. A space management plan and material process was determined for raw vs in progress parts.”
The raw materials then had to be made into parts. This required cutting all of the wood to length, running the plywood panels on the ShopBot CNC router, cutting all of the steel and 80/20 aluminum to length and cutting the 1/2″ steel sheets on the Flow Water Jet.
“As ‘Ourself’ is composed of many custom pieces that cannot be machined through computer control, multiple jigs were constructed for repeatable and exact production of the parts. Furthermore, tolerances in the ‘Ourself’ model are very tight (less than 1/8”), and as such a very high degree of attention and professionalism was necessary during production.”
“Welding with Matt was one of the best shop experiences I have ever had, he was the only person who has ever been as excited about using clamps to fixture a piece as I get. We had a large steel plate come in that was warped due to the stresses put on it during transit, the deformations were not fully understood until after it had been cut, then it became intensely deformed. It was both exciting and stressful to resolve the issue. Matt was very insightful, assisting me in establish a weld order to ensure that the plate did not become further deformed,” says NAPA’s Greg MacGlashing.
Having cut the steel parts on the water jet, tolerances were very tight, allowing for very precise fitting and alignment as well as simplifying pre-weld assembly. Once the 1/2 steel pieces were assembled and clamped, they were pulse welded with a MIG welder. The base frame and caster joints were all assembled in this manner.
After the steel fabrication was complete, all of the steel pieces were sealed and finished with black Rust-o-leum paint.
The wooden panels were sanded, stained and sealed and laid on racks to dry.
Sternof Beyer explains, “This phase is probably the most difficult and least rewarding. Close attention must be paid to every action, but nothing is assemble-ready quite yet so hours of work can have little visual effect. This stage takes the most space too, racks of painted siding drying, piles of specific lengths of metal with specific holes cut in them, piles of 80/20 parts partially assembled.”
The next step? Putting it all together. Due to the size and weight of the pieces, internal (and hidden) industrial casters were added to the bases. Then the 4’x10′ stainless steel mirrors were attached to the bases and the sides attached to the mirrors. Sternof Beyer describes the process of mounting the mirrors:
“The edges of the mirror come flush with the light channel on 3 sides, and we didn’t want to interrupt the mirror surface with bolts so we chose to glue the mirror to the frame. After multiple discussions and prototype tests with adhesives we settled on 3M 90. A spray adhesive. On the positive side it has amazing adhesion and temperature and moisture resistance, bonding to everything incredibly. On the negative side it has a working time of 2 min…The setup for this needed to be very precise and choreographed. Double-fisting cans of 3M90, Greg, Bevan and myself spray down both the 4’x10’ plywood frame face, and the stainless steel mirror back in under 2 minutes, and then quickly but with incredible care and accuracy pick up the frame and lay it against the mirror perfectly flush on all sides. An operation in which we only get one chance to do it perfectly the first time. A moment of truth, if [we] do this wrong it ruins weeks of work and costs thousands of dollars.”
After completing the structures by installing the back sides, which act as access panels, the electronics were installed and tested.
Finally the pieces were broken down into their mobile components and prepped for transportation. It was fun to see the reactions of NextFab staff and members who were lucky enough to get a sneak peak prior to installation.
The pieces were rolled on their internal casters to a fork lift which loaded them onto a flat bed semi for transportation across the river to Camden, NJ. Pt.3 of this series will cover the installation and interactive aspects of this wonderful project.
If you missed Pt.1 of this series, you can check it out here: Ourself Blog Pt.1
Interested in CNC woodworking? Take the ShopBot class!
New to metal fabrication? Take a welding class: MIG Welding: Steel
Want to learn more about New American Public Art? Check out their website
Ready to build some circuits?
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