Past Work - Giant Tyre
I've been asked to redesign part of a mining exhibit on the Eden Project, where I've got an internship though contacts with Plymouth College of Art.
 | My task is to revamp this truly enormous tyre - it's 4m-diameter. When it was operational, visitors could spin the hub around to read a series of plaques that step through how copper is mined and smelted to eventually form the copper sheet used on the roof of the Eden Project's "Core" building. | |||
 | So far all I've done is come up with an idea for recreating a spinning hub while getting rid of the steel-work supporting the current spindle. The next step is to figure out what to put in the hub. At present I'm researching the idea of doing something on china clay mining, possibly relating to the quarry in which the Eden Project now stands. | |||
 | An improvement on my first idea. The hub is now made up of two independent dish-shaped structures on each side of the tyre, still spinning on wheels within the tyre. The dishes protrude out of the tyre by about 200mm, creating a feature. They are bounded by a double-hoop "steering wheel" to make it obvious (and fun) that the dishes can be rotated to view the content on the dish surfaces. I've abandoned the idea of trying to use the rotation to drive an interactive exhibit inside the hub. The need for the exhibit to run for years with little or no maintenance made it impractical. | |||
 | Mock-up pictured left. Regarding the content on the dish surfaces, I've done some initial research and found a wealth of material on mining activities in the area - really interesting stuff relating to much more than just china clay. But I've been asked to hang loose on further research on this topic in case it conflicts with wider plans in the vicinity. I got a rough cost for fabricating and installing the work - about £4,000 in stainless steel and £2,500 in powder-coated galvanized carbon steel. The project has been put on hold while plans for the whole area are under consideration. | |||