Bandshell 12′ – Frank Stella

Bandshell 12' - Frank Stella

We first made Frank Stella’s  “Bandshell”  in 1/3 scale, 12’h x 16′ sq., so it could be transported around the country. The first stop was his work shop that had big windows, the pieces could pass through. When it got there he would add different colors to the edges of the rib bands.

It was the first work of Art designed wholly in a computer, by the artist and his helpers. So, we had to extract the geometry out of the computer. It is sandwich construction of fiberglass over foam cores. In some cases it is C-flex rods spanning forms, fairing the curves. It was complicated, we jigged the core off the floor grid and controlled altitude, direction and angle. It might have been better to CNC cut the pieces, but we were before that capability. The painters solved all problems. It separated into four (4) modules for trucking. All the joints were pulled together tightly by mortised cam locks so all one could see is an allen key hole on one side of the joint, very clean.

It has a stage on the floor to the left, so it is like an amphitheater for a band. We lovingly called it a Hurricane because all the rib bands come to a circle and a hole in the roof center, spiraling around a center like an eye of a hurricane. The full scale Bandshell was going to be installed in Miami, the land of the hurricane.