JOHN MERRITT

DISCO PILL

This job was another favorite because it involved so much creative problem solving.  Each course of mirrored acrylic pieces had to be a custom shape.  The joints of the pieces across all the courses had to be uniform.  And we had to maintain a staggered bond pattern as much as we could.  None of this was easy or straightforward. 

We had to do a lot of R&D figuring how to adhere the pieces such that the bond was strong but allowing us the option of making edits.  Finally, we needed to design a very robust suspension system for the piece which got extremely heavy toward completion.

Shop: The Group Y (formerly The Mark Yurkiw Group)
Photographer: Brad Guice
In-house art direction, Rigging and Primary fabrication: Bill Mulkins
Logistics and Fabrication: Kent Rogowski
Layout, Material Procurement and Fabrication: John Merritt

Layout of Mirrored Acrylic Pieces

We were highly reliant on CAD to determine the joint widths, the taper and the stagger of the running bond pattern of mirrored pieces.  The pieces in each row within each section had their own shape, sometimes only slightly different.