POLK BROS PARK WAVE BENCH
Chicago, USA
Polk Bros Park lies at the entrance to Navy Pier, welcoming visitors to Illinois’ busiest tourist attraction.
My brand new CAD/CAM department at Architectural Cast Stone built a beautiful interactive fountain at the center of the park, and, to complement the fountain, this serpentine cast stone bench. It offers parents a spot to sit as they watch their children play in the fountain.
Designed by James Corner Field Operations landscape architects, the bench consists of 23 unique segments. At 145 feet (44m) in length, and with a constantly changing profile, it would have been nearly impossible to manufacture without the aid of computer-automated manufacturing.,
Using my own camera gear and software, I documented the many stages of the manufacture of the Wave Bench, focusing on a single integral part of the bench, and combining the resulting timelapse videos, stills, screen captures, and CAD animations into a promotional video for ACS.
The documentation process included spending two days at Chicago’s Lake Michigan waterfront as the Wave Bench was being installed, making timelapse sequences from various locations. At the same time, I got first-hand experience observing large-scale concrete installation for the first time.
This particular installation was noteworthy for the way our 8,000 pound bench segments were lifted from a flatbed on the street over the existing tree canopy by crane, and for the expertise of the crew.
The Wave Bench and Polk Bros Park Fountain won three Awards for Excellence from the Architectural Precast Association in 2017, in the categories of Craftsmanship, Trim and Landscape, and Green Building.
Comments from the jury included:
“Nicely crafted, installation is seamless and connections are minimized.”
“Another unique and well executed application of precast in a landscape setting.”
“The curved flowing nature of the benches required constantly changing radius formwork combined with honed finishes on both front and back surfaces.”
To see a breakdown of how the forms for the Wave Bench were created, click here.
