Glide

Like all public art, Glide is an expression of the human experience, designed to evoke an emotional response and bring people together. Positioned in a central thoroughfare between accommodation, retail and dining, Glide offers residents of Moderna Academic Village in Florida a striking meeting place and shelter from the heat of the sun.

Design details

Discovery

When architects Mill Creek initially approached us with the commission, they provided a location for the sculpture and a budget. To build a detailed brief together, we revisited their original mood board and discussed the importance of community interaction and playfulness, as well as the possibility of working with the position of the sun to create striking shadows and shade.

Design

The rusty-hued steel combined with the cut-outs and waney edges creates a playful warmth which echoes the development’s community focus, while visually recognizable natural forms bring about variation, harmony and balance.

Development

Humidity and rain can cause mild steel to leach in its first year, so to counter this we spoke to Mill Creek about laying a pea gravel resin floor, which would drain away the leached steel and frame the sculpture.

Delivery

As with all our projects overseas, we worked closely with on-site contractors to understand exact location requirements, from footings to bolt sizes. This then allowed us to create general assembly drawings for install, which included a template for the positioning of each panel.