The Urchins were created Jin Choi and Thomas Shine in response to a call for art
for the 2017 iLight Marina Bay, Singapore, which had the theme for the
festival of Biomimicry and sustainability.
This project is inspired by sea urchin shells, which are
enclosed yet light weight, delicate and open. Their textured and
permeable surface interacting with light creates openness, while the
pattern’s mathematical repetition brings visual rhythm and
harmony. Against light, the sea urchin natural form reveals one of the
most spectacular patterns found in nature.
The project mimics this orderly, repetitive pattern and
soft forms, achieving a visual harmony from the contrast between nature
and the man-made environment, and between the firmly grounded masculine
skyscrapers and the hovering feminine object.
The Urchin is a hand crochet fabric shell held in
tension over an aluminum frame that is suspended from Dyneema
cables. The cables fasten to steel trusses holding the Urchins in
place. Because the structure is light weight, the suspending cables are
thin, and barely visible during the day.
The crochet fabric shell is constructed of 3mm white
double braided polyester chord, illuminated by multiple white spot
lights, creating the illusion of an evenly glowing structure. Each
Urchins skin is use about 17.000 meters of polyester cord, with each
urchin weighing about 100kg.
The Urchins were designed for simple installation, and
are composed of 20 segmented panels, which are joined to a series of
metal ribs at ground level at the site, and later fastened to a top and
bottom ring once suspended. Once assembled, the Urchins are hoisted to
the final display height and secured in place.
Source: http://choishine.com/UrchinsFabrication.html , http://choishine.com/urchins.html
