The journey with the Glider Wing continued through this past fall. After taking the glider down from the gallery at the Yale School of Architecture I stored it in my shop for the summer. While it was there we prepared it to spend the fall months at above the entry to Cooper Union in Manhattan. The task of obtaining permits to install the wing was greater than the preparation or installation. I worked closely with Steven Hilyer at Cooper Union to try and obtain the necessary permit to install the unit. I want so far as applying for my New York City contractor's permit. This is no easy task. My application was shot down because I did not have NYC worker's comp, which you can not obtain until you do work in NYC. Steven eventually got the crane company to take out the building permit.
The installation was set for a Friday morning, start time in NYC was 8:00. Start time for me was 4:30 am. It was pouring when I left Milford. As I traveled south the rain let up and the sun was out, things were looking good. By the time the crew gathered at the front of the Cooper Union the rain caught up to me. When the crane company arrived at 8:30 the rain was coming down in sheets. In Ct that would stop the job, in NYC that just makes the job more interesting. With a crew of about 10, myself, a crane operator, a rigor on the ground a helper and the owner of the crane company, there were an additional 5 or so folks from the Cooper Union helping out. We managed to pull the base and wing out of the truck, fly it into position and put it all together by 10:30. Just in time for a little sunshine and an espresso.
This image was taken by Steven Hilyer and sent to me just recently.

 

The Scolari Wing

One of my staff members mentioned that the Yale School of Architecture was preparing an exhibit of Massimo Scolari's work, and asked if I was interested in bidding on the project. I very quickly walked into my office and called the Director of exhibitions Brian Butterfield to discuss the project. Brian andI discussed the overall project and I presented to Brian my plan on fabricating the wing as a torsion box with the final ash skin being applied as a veneer. Brian accepted my plan and asked us to start preparing samples and start fabrication.

Massimo Scalari giving our sample one last look prior to his departure from our shop

Prior to starting the project in our shop Massimo flew to CT to review all of the preparations for the gallery show. One stop was to our shop so that he could review our samples and discuss with me how I planned to build and finish the wing. To prepare for Massimo's arrival at my shop, Dan and I made up a sample of the wing skin along with a few other samples for Massimo Scolari's review. On the day of the job review I was lucky to have Dan & Jim out installing other work as we spent many hours reviewing the construction, grain direction screw size and many other details.

Dan working one the wing frame.

The next time that Massimo Scolari would see the wing would be when he returns for the gallery opening on February 9th. We could only hope that I got the image and concept right. Dan Kirkstead was the main cabinet maker on the fabrication of the actual wings. We all were involved on different aspects as the project allowed. After many hours of building we finally got the opportunity to assemble both halves for the wing a few hours prior to delivery. It went together beautifully. All told the wing weights about 700lbs, there are 240 brass screws, 32 oak pegs, 320 square feet of ash plywood for the skin and more screws and glue holding everything together. We delivered the wing to the Yale gallery and their riggers hoisted the wing into place.

After the delivery I was given a tour of the previous models of the wing. There was one model made for the installation at Yale, there is one yellow high gloss model, two models for the real wing and I believe that may have been one other. You will have to go to the exhibition and count all the models your self. The show opens this coming Thursday February 9th at 6pm.

The final product delivered and assembled at the Yale school of Architecture Gallery

If you would like to see more of Massimo Scolari's work his web site is below:

http://www.massimoscolari.it/

For the gallery hours and upcoming shows please follow this link to the Yale School of Architecture. 

http://www.architecture.yale.edu/drupal/events/architecture_gallery