ray king: solarsonic

‘solarsonic’ by ray king, taipei, taiwan all images courtesy of ray kin daytime long shot of 14 lenses

philadelphia-based sculpture ray king has completed ‘solarsonic’, a 94m long chromatic glass sculpture suspended in the international departures terminal of taoyuan international airport in taipei, taiwan. the light-responsive model is an homage to chinese cultural history, aeronautics, space travel and a symbol for its high-tech future. the series of 14 iconic lens elements is derived from the ritualistic neolithic jade discs with a central opening that were used to meditate on transcending earth to the heavens, which is the earliest reference to flight, is suspended within the terminal’s exterior canopy structure.

the lenses are a tensile ring structure clad on one side with holographic light-defractive glass are graduated in size from 2m to 4m diameter, and is connected by 20 horizontal cables, woven in a torroidal pattern, tensioned and attached to anchorages at both ends. the overall 172m long ensemble is reminiscent of a segmented chinese dragon kite as scaled from the fuselage of the sst. it is one in a series of chromatic sculptures by king designed to interact with the sun. the concave holographic lenses are positioned to face easterly to greet passenger cars and buses entering the terminal.

evening

single lens

installation

attaching holographic glass to lens

preparation of lens

hoisting lens for suspension

threading 20 toroidal cables

anchorage node at one end of assembly

video © ray king

wire frame drawing

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