Steven Holl Architects have recently created their new project, called Obolin, a sculpture made locally from a 15 meters sheet of CLT, stack laminated and milled with a 7-axis robotic arm, and was assembled on site. The sculpture is exhibited in Art Omi Sculpture and Architecture Park, an art center that seeks to explore the intersection of architecture and art through the production of pavilions, installations, landscape interventions, and built environments designed by architects.
The team explains that three subtractions were made from the project’s initial spherical geometry, each marking the exact location of the sun’s vector at noon on the summer and winter solstices and at 2:00. pm during the equinox. Acting as a sculptural sun gauge, the markings are based on the sun’s exact location in the Hudson Valley.
The sculpture was named by Steven Holl’s four-year-old daughter. When she was asked what Obolin means, she answered, “It means exactly what you want it to mean.”