USA National and Student Exhibit – BUILD, pt. 4, constructing a cloud.

Alright, so we have the platforms for the floor and the staircase built. Now it’s time to build the cloud of conduit pipe and gooseneck cable together around the staircase. It’s hard to describe in words how we were going to approach this, so let me just show you from where we started, to where we ended. For now.

The point we got to in January, pictured above, is not the final product. The organic nature of the exhibit allows itself to change every time we set it up. The twists and turns will not quite fit the exact same every time. This makes it rather stressful to strike, and then put back together. The exhibit was organized in a pie section system set up with a color key, number key and letter key that fits with the platforms, conduit pieces and the items the exhibit is presenting from various designs around America. The goal is to keep the shape of the cloud consistent each time we set up the exhibit.

To go into some depth of how the cloud was constructed, we used the three different diameters of bent conduit pipe, two varied sizes in different lengths of gooseneck cable and then smaller gauge wire to finish off the details.

We were happy to have a cloud to play in!

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Katie Gruenhagen

Katie Gruenhagen is a lighting designer and photographer living in Denver, Colorado. She recently received her M.F.A. in Lighting Design from Indiana University. Katie is the photographer and blogger covering the USITT Student Build Team for the U.S.A. National and Student Exhibits at the Prague Quadrennial 2015. As a part of the Indiana University Student Build Team, she has also served as a carpenter and electrician for the National Exhibit. At Indiana University, she was the lighting designer for nine main stage productions including Romeo and Juliet (award winning design at the 2014 Southeastern Theater Conference) and Into The Woods. To see her work and contact information, see www.katiegruenhagen.com