Wayne Dolcefino of 13 Undercover gets wet at Open Channel Flow

Open Channel Flow is open and flowing

Sunday afternoon shower at OCF

The full pipework assembly, drain grate with hand pump, bench and landscaping are done

Matthew Geller, Metalab and family gather at high noon for a spritz

Avery cranks the hand pump

Joe takes over to achieve full CFM on Open Channel Flow and Luca looks on with cool delight

Erecting Open Channel Flow

Ten hours of crane time over two days was what it took Metalab to assemble the Open Channel Flow sculpture. Three major vertical supports were first placed that set the datum 21′ above grade upon which the tripod assembly was placed with the boom crane extended. On a bucket lift we placed the fasteners with relative ease. The accuracy of this maneuver was carefully orchestrated but ultimately was possible through the digital fabrication of a jig that exactly set the bolt pattern in the concrete footings placed in the ground below prior to the delivery of the steel pipe components.

View from the bucket lift…

A safe landing, skate park and Houston skyline looking on

Looking over the shower head…

Camera tilt to fit it all in… not the bucket lift

Matthew Geller, Artist

Some of the crew: MG, Joe, James the Crane and Juan in hardhat.

Shower head cantilever extension

Open Channel Flow topping out at over 50′, that’s AV down by the steps

Swamplot gets the scoop on Open Channel Flow

Open Channel Flow is out of the ground

The foundation (3 pier footings) for the Open Channel Flow sculpture have been placed.  The assembly shown is the jig that Campo Sheet Metal built to locate the bolt plates on which the pipe work will be installed.

Open Channel Flow

We are working with Matthew Geller, a sculptor from New York City, who has been commissioned by the Houston Arts Alliance to build a civic art piece next to the Buffalo Bayou.  The structure will emerge from the landscape next to the Houston Water Works on Sabine St to a height of 60′.   Inspired by the strange protrusions of plumbing infrastructure relentlessly painted blue (to “blend in” to the background), he proposed a colossal pipe works that will feature a public outdoor shower activated by a hand pump.  A nearby skate park will ensure that a steady flow of skaters and passersby will indulge in a refreshing spritz on Houston’s infamously humid afternoons.  We’re on schedule to install this summer on the hottest day of the year as per Matthew’s request.