Lighthouse

Building and transporting the Lighthouse tower, a helical steel structure fabricated in a metalworking shop, loaded into a pickup truck, and assembled at Duke University using the Zip-Form curved-beam system.

The Lighthouse standing alone in a room during a test; the geodesic sphere at the top projecting a dramatic pentagonal shadow pattern across the entire ceiling, a collaborator standing in the background

The completed Lighthouse tower loaded upright in the bed of a red Ford Ranger outside a grey garage; the helical structure strapped with orange ratchet straps, barely fitting vertically

Metalworking shop with red walls; a circular serrated steel ring on a vertical post being welded, tools and a workbench behind; the Lighthouse tower being fabricated

Metalworking shop, second view; more of the Lighthouse helical structure taking shape on the welding table, steel elements laid out

A woman in a yellow t-shirt and wide-brimmed hat posing beside the completed Lighthouse tower in her home garage workshop; the helical steel structure nearly reaches the ceiling, spiral staircase and landing plates clearly visible

The Lighthouse tower in the red truck on the road trip to Duke; horizontal in the truck bed at a town intersection in bright sunlight, a collaborator visible at the wheel

Lighthouse tower being assembled at Duke University with an orange stepladder leaning against it; a collaborator working near the top, the helical structure reaching the conference room ceiling tiles

Overhead view of the complete Mathemalchemy installation laid out in a Duke conference room during the assembly week; Integral Hill, Lighthouse, Cavalcade arc, and all silhouette figures visible from above at an intermediate assembly stage