Structural Form Finding of a Rope Sculpture

A rope net sculpture was developed for the Sunset La Cienega project in West Hollywood, CA. The sculpture was designed in collaboration with artist Janet Echelman and spans the two towers of the development. The sculpture is articulated into four levels of structural net layers and several sculptural nets made of fishing net-type material hanging from the structural layers. The structural design of the sculpture presented several challenges from the analytical and material points of view. The design process required form finding of the structural rope net layers followed by dimensioning of the rope elements. Rope structure materials are highly non-linear due to their construction and are relatively soft compared to traditional structural materials. This paper describes these challenges and the most important aspects in the design of the rope net sculpture.