Designing Sonosphere 3.0

Designing Sonosphere 3.0 was quite the challenge. It had to exceed my own expectations and also surpass previous Sonosphere models in every way possible. I also wanted to take the art many steps deeper and actually design the structure in an elegant and artistic way instead of just 'decorating' after the fact of the metal being cut. I decided that the metal itself needed to have an artistic quality and for my theme I was really inspired by science fiction alien technology. When the Sonosphere is complete and in it's special environment, it will be in a round building painted vanta black inside with only a galaxy and stars painted on with LED shining 'stars' scattered throughout. I want the Sonosphere to feel like it's floating in outer space with YOU INSIDE! The structure of the Sonosphere is making a big transformation from having a pole down the center of the structure, to having the pole removed so that the circular platform is an 'open floor plan' type of design where a person can really have freedom of motion, stretch out, and lay down if they so choose. I used Adobe Illustrator to design the support structures that would be made out of steel, cut out of steel sheet metal by a water jet or laser cutter machine and then welded together by a fabricator. The critical step of designing these parts was a huge hurtle in the design phase that had me busy for weeks and second guessing my design for even longer.

After Designing the pieces to scale, I brought my technical drawings to Rusty Oliver at All Metal Arts and Hazard Factory in South Seattle. Rusty helped us orchestrate getting the pieces cut out by a water jet cutting company and then he proceeded to get them all welded together! After the connecting joints are all figured out and assembled, the pieces will be dipped in a chrome bath finish- this chrome finish is not a paint- it's a metal coating and will be as shiny as the bumper on a classic cadillac.

These custom designed 'arcs' will hold up the heavy and thick plexiglas platform and all of the weight of the resonators and people inside the Sonosphere. That is why this stage is so important to test the safety and the stability of the overall structural design. The rotating copper sphere will spin on the OUTSIDE of the support arcs. In one of our next few blogs, we will show you what the next phase of the pieces looks like after water jet cutting.