Gormley Chord with Tristan Simmonds

Client

Commissioned with MIT

Location

MIT, Cambridge, USA

Completed

October 2015
A double helix- balancing strength and stiffness of varying size cellular packing

Cellular stainless steel structure that comprises 33 polyhedrons that make up a vertical helical chain 905 stainless steel elements of varying section sizes and 541 stainless steel balls

Chord, 2015

Antony Gormley’s Chord (2015) comprises thirty-three polyhedrons welded together and reaching vertically from the floor of Building 2 to the skylight, four stories above. Light passes through the open spaces of the sculpture, and also reflects off the slender rods and nodes that form each unit. Yet, the seemingly delicate and airy form is, in fact, fashioned from 1700 pounds of polished stainless steel.

The sculpture was installed on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the building, which was designed by architect William Welles Bosworth and combines stylistic elements referencing both ancient Greek structures and twentieth-century industrial steel constructions. Chord is situated at the busy intersection of MIT’s Mathematics and Chemistry Departments and fills the open well of Bosworth’s austere staircase. Gormley’s irregular and dynamic polyhedral column counters the regular and even intervals of the stairs through which it ascends.

Fabrication of the cells (courtesy @@@)