Archives: Projects

Drawings created with the same data used to to make the Feathered Edge installation at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. The drawings were exhibited in the same space as the installation.Drawings created with the same data used to to make the Feathered Edge installation at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. The drawings were exhibited in the same space as the installation.

Designed and fabricated by the studio over eight months, the Instal-lator 1 with the Variable Information Atomizing Module is a custom computer-controlled machine that automates the measuring, cutting, and airbrushing of string in a single continuous process. Built as the technological backbone of the Feathered Edge installation at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, it enabled a level of intricacy in form and color that would have been impossible by hand, precisely cutting 3,604 unique lengths of string while airbrushing each in discrete locations to yield holographic-like images floating in space. The machine reflects a core question in the studio’s practice: what becomes possible when you design your own tools.

Comprised only of strings and ink, this installation constructs the lightest wall imaginable, an ephemeral architecture that mirrors the modular units of stone at the Entrepot. A complex system of overlapping catenary curves was cut and printed by a custom computer-controlled machine designed and fabricated for the project.

This was the sixth in a series of projects referred to as “Suspensions.” Functioning as an astigmatic lens, this suspended installation absorbs light and creates a new point of focus in the room. Made of almost no material, it envelops rather than obstructs viewers, encouraging social interaction while producing the effect of ghostly three-dimensional objects hovering in space.

Created by students from SCI-Arc under the direction of Ball-Nogues Studio, this large-scale installation could be twisted, arched, and curled to form different types of space. In the desert heat it provided shade and mist, while at night the fluorescent tubes supported in each cell created the effect of a sweeping motion.

This undulating functional object is crafted from assembled layers of industrially cut cardboard and plywood, its form generated through the repetition and pattern of two pre-cut shapes designed on computational software. Suggesting movement and vitality, it acts as a fluid intermediary between the public space of the gallery and its workspace.

A low-resolution aerial image of San Diego is translated into a sculptural bas-relief map, the result approaching abstraction. Fabricated using a CNC router and finished to resemble brass, the work marks the location of the hotel within the broader urban fabric of the city.

Three thousand hanging strings totaling ten miles span the walls of a gallery in precise arrangements, suggesting a surface or volume from a distance. Upon moving into its center, the three-dimensional array of catenaries evokes a rolling fog, gradating from rich orange to sky blue.

An explosion of string catenaries suspended from above transforms a difficult transition space into a playful experience, forming an ephemeral ceiling that subtly guides visitors through several paths without ever actually defining one.

Floating over the Coachella festival grounds, this outdoor installation filtered sunlight and provided shelter from the desert heat. Actively engaging the breeze, it translated wind energy into sensuous, hypnotic motion while creating a shimmering visual spectacle by day and night.