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Historic Tokyo Bench Restoration

June 26, 2019 by Bob Hannum Leave a Comment

US Ambassador's Residence in Tokyo, Japan

Not for Me

Sometimes my work involves finding others to do it! This project is a good example. It involves the re-creation of 2 outdoor benches from their original 1929 designs - huge, beautiful, and complex pieces.

Even though I've made furniture and would love to do it again, and wrangle my favorite and brilliant colleague Al Chapman to join me, this was out of our league because of several daunting tasks such as bending 2" thick wood and Japanese joinery. So, we decided to pass on this one. Thus, my task was to find very special craftspeople.

History of the Benches

In 1929 the American architects Antonin Raymond, the father of modern Japanese architecture, and Harold Van Burren Magonigle designed the US ambassador's residence in Tokyo. This is one of America's most historic buildings. It is the first ambassador's residence built by the US government. Even more significantly, it is where Emperor Hirohito met General MacArthur shortly following World War II to renounce his divinity, forever changing the geopolitics of Japan and the world.

Completed in 1931, the residence stands as a marvelous example of early Japanese-American design with Moorish and Oriental influences.

The construction of the residence was a unique collaboration of American architects and Japanese builders. The design included two gardens each featuring a large wood bench.

Original 1929 Architectural Drawing Showing Bench Design

                                                                   Original 1929 Architectural Drawing Showing Bench Design

Over the past several years the residence and gardens were meticulously restored to their original beauty. The restoration of the benches is the final and most important part of this project. The benches are prominently located in gardens often used by the ambassador for special occasions. The original benches deteriorated by the 1960's and were replaced by concrete seats.

As concrete, the benches are cold, stark, and uninviting objects within the warm and colorful gardens. Restoring the original benches will finally return both gardens to their original beauty, and reclaim their status as centerpieces in spaces frequently used for diplomatic events.

Original Half Circle Bench

                                                                                                  Original Half Circle Bench

Existing Half Circle Bench

                                                                                                   Existing Half Circle Bench

Unique Collaboration

My task here was not only to find uniquely experienced craftspeople, but also design an exciting proposal to attract donors. I estimated the price tag for this project to be about 100K. Sounds like a lot, but this includes research, shipping, and painting. Yes, painting. The original benches were painted and this project calls for strict matching of the original. Further research will reveal the original colors.

My team at the Office of Cultural Heritage suggested some kind of Japanese-American team to honor the original partnership - Americans designed the property and Japanese craftspeople built it, including the benches.

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So, the adventure began finding the right people from two different countries willing to bid on this project and work together!

Miraculously, a woodworker sent me a message about another project I'd written about here on my website - see 'Dusting the Buddha' - and mentioned his experience with Japanese construction techniques. I asked him to look at this project. Then another miracle! He works with an extraordinary Japanese craftperson, and together they've achieved wide acclaim in over 40 years of collaboration. Their high-profile projects include some of the most famous oriental structures in Japan and the US.

Unique Proposal

I'd found the perfect team, and they presented a fabulous proposal to blend old and new in the spirit of the original architects. They proposed to apply the finest traditional furniture-making techniques with modern durable materials. The result will be an exact match of the original design lasting maintenance-free for many decades.

There is another benefit of this collaboration: it is actually less expensive to utilize US labor and materials even adding shipping, compared to the costs of Japanese labor and materials.

Peter Wechsler will construct the benches in his workshop in Maryland and then ship them in pieces to Tokyo. There his colleague Hatsuo Kanomata will assemble, install, and paint them.

Kanomata and bob

                                          Master Craftsmen Peter Wechsler (left) and Hatsuo Kanomata - a 40-Year Collaboration

Exacting Specifications

Both benches will be fabricated as per the original drawings. The semicircular bench will have five sections, and the other curving bench three. Materials and construction methods will be chosen for maximum durability.

The end pieces and legs will utilize Bruynzeel Oukume plywood - a high quality certified marine grade plywood used in high-end boat construction for its extreme weather resistance and durability.

The ornamental cut-outs found on both benches will be achieved by a CNC machine.

Facade of the Residence

       Detail on the facade of the residence repeated on both benches - this may be a stylized gingko leaf since the largest                                                                                         gingko tree in Japan is located on the property

All the glue used will be the highest-grade marine epoxy and all screws stainless steel. All screw holes will be countersunk and plugged.

Wood dimensions for the seats and backs will be 2" thick and laminated out of Port Orford cedar.

Three decorative wood squares on the back and front of each 5' section will be applied with epoxy.

All the vertical and horizontal pieces supporting the seats and seat-backs will also be cedar. Following traditional furniture-building techniques, they will be mortised and tenoned into place.

It's Begun!

The project was approved. Funds have been found. Peter and Hatsuo plan to complete the project in 2021.

Filed Under: Fabrication Tagged With: Antonin Raymond, art fabrication, Arts Management Services LLC, Harold Van Burren Magonigle, Hatsuo Kanomata, Office of Cultural Heritage, Peter Wechsler

Art Restoration at the Denver International Airport

February 19, 2016 by Bob Hannum

Back Again!

One of Several Visits

Denver Airport Art Repair

This is the latest of several visits to Denver International Airport (DIA) to restore the large Michael Singer sculpture in Concourse C.

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On at least two occasions since the sculpture was installed in 1994 irrigation has failed and the art has been removed to repair or replace the irrigation. In these instances I set the artwork back in place. On another occasion, rot required the replacement of several elements.

This is always a delightful project as the staff of DIA are wonderful.

Critics Love It!

art repair of Michael Singer sculpture

Here’s what one local has written about this striking work of art:

“In 1994 nature took over the 650 square meter Concourse C within the Denver International Airport and changed the usual anonymous, expected airport in both a dramatic and evocative way.

Singer’s public art project brought nature into the antiseptic airport setting by creating a vast, indoor garden, in which various climbing plants creep up the walls and across the concrete surfaces.  There is, on the whole, a multitude of intense connections between the non-linear growth elements and the more linear structures in the sculptural forms.

The garden can be viewed from the level above, where there is a McDonald’s restaurant and other fast food shops, a fascinating contrast. Singer comments, “the garden is covered with vines, ferns, all manner of growth. It becomes a living ecology, and therefore a complete contradiction to its surroundings.”   The garden, akin to the Japanese Zen-gardens, can be viewed from several vantage points but is not open and available directly to the public, which gives it a mysterious air.

However, it establishes a network of expressive, contrasting effects in its grey, cold surroundings.  The moss-covered surfaces in the northeastern end of the space lead one’s thoughts to the Moss Gardens in Kyoto, creating a poetic Japanese reference.”

For more from this article go to https://allegedlyapparent.wordpress.com/2012/06/12/dia-concourse-cs-unnamed-mystery-ruins-art.

And here’s what the artist says about his Atrium Garden:

“Concourse C of the Denver International Airport was re-imagined as a garden oasis within the steel and concrete cathedral-like core of the building. The garden encompasses the entire circulation space where passengers enter and exit the airport train connecting the concourse to the main airport terminal. On the lower level, adjacent to the trains, is a sculpted 7,000 square foot plaza of patterned inlaid granite and copper. Exiting the train one immediately steps upon this patterned plaza and can see hints of the garden above where the sculpted walls emerge from the platforms above the trains. As one travels up the stairs or escalator to the main concourse level the garden slowly emerges as two surrounding stepped gardens bounded by sculpted walls. The two facing gardens, each built over the train system below, frame the entire circulation core, creating the experience of ascending into the garden from below or descending into the garden from above (when returning to the main terminal). The design of the garden takes advantage of this unique experiential space with a layering of multiple sculptural levels and details that are sequentially revealed by moving through the building and ultimately understood as a whole by viewing the entire interior garden from above.

Repair of Sculpture at DIA

The two 2,500 square foot gardens are sculpted from stone, wood, concrete panels, stucco, soil and vegetation. The walls of the garden space are fifteen feet high and constructed at an angle, creating the illusion of deep hallow spaces behind the walls. Carefully selected vines climb and weave through the patinated walls and over the ground plane and sculptural elements. A moss garden is placed at the northeast end of the space, in other areas ferns abound. During periods of growth the garden vegetation can overtake the sculptural elements, leaving only traces and glimpses of the complex pieces below, and creating the sense of an archeological ruin. In the original construction irrigation water was allowed to wet the sculptural elements creating small pools of water within the garden, making the interior garden seem as though it were outdoors.

This project was restored in 2007 at the request of Denver International Airport. Prior to the restoration Michael Singer Studio received numerous inquires about the gardens expressing concern that the irrigation system had been turned off and the garden was dying. Several individuals, including travelers and people who work in the concourse noted that the gardens were also providing a refuge for birds trapped within the airport. They feared without the garden that the birds might not survive. In part due to these inquires, the waterproofing and irrigation systems were upgraded and the gardens were restored and re-planted.”

For more from the artist go to http://www.michaelsinger.com/project/denver-airport-concourse-c-atrium/.

The Restoration

My team and I completed the latest art repair, restoring it to the artist’s original intent.

The moss in one of the central concrete and wood elements did not establish itself despite the special addition of buttermilk to the concrete mixture which fosters moss growth on concrete. This failure was due to a lack of moisture. The irrigation has never been able to deliver enough moisture to this area. So artificial moss is now used and surprisingly looks quite nice.

It’s a beautiful airport terminal complex with lots of wonderful art. I highly recommend visiting DIA even if you’re not flying.

Filed Under: Fabrication, Restoration Tagged With: Art Conservation, Arts Management Services LLC, Denver International Airport, Michael Singer, Robert Hannum, sculpture restoration

Fabrication of Custom Art Pedestals

February 14, 2016 by Bob Hannum

Museum Quality Art Fabrication for Sculpture

art fabrication by Arts Management Services

I fabricated two custom-designed pedestals for the sculpture of Michael Singer.

These have appeared in exhibitions in Aalborg and Copenhagen, Denmark. They currently are on exhibit in the artist’s gallery in southern Vermont.

Both pedestals together took a total of two weeks to construct.

The exhibition in Aalborg was entitled “Michael Singer Projects in Art, Design and Environmental Regeneration.” The opening of this exhibition was on June 7, 2011 at the Utzon Center. It was a major solo retrospective exhibition of sculpture, drawings, and architectural projects highlighting Michael’s collaboration with engineers, architects, biologists, social historians, and anthropologists.

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art fabrication - sculpture pedestals

This exhibition went on to the Danish Architecture Center in Copenhagen.

They are constructed of 3/4″ birch plywood with all edges mitered. The artist specified that no coating would be applied to the surface so all edges were glued to prevent the splintering of the delicate edges and corners. The surfaces were lightly hand-sanded.

 

Filed Under: Fabrication Tagged With: art fabrication, art pedestals, Arts Management Services LLC, custom pedestals, custom sculpture pedestals, Robert Hannum

Art Fabrication of a La Jolla Sculpture

January 30, 2011 by Bob Hannum

Contemplative Garden and Shelter

The Fabrication

Michael Singer commissioned Arts Management Services to fabricate this swinging bench. He designed it as part of a large outdoor site-specific environmental artwork for a private collector on the beautiful California ocean seaside in La Jolla.

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The piece is made of redwood, and the project took me approximately 40 hours to construct without assistance. Once completed Michael's studio crew installed it.

The Sculpture

Michael Singer was commissioned to design and construct a sculpture, pavilion, pathway, and landscaping. His website describes it as follows:

A stepped and terraced pathway leads to the top of the hill where the shelter provides a place to view the ocean. The shelter walls are custom redwood trellises planted with vines. Layers of wood beams and trellis, transparent glass panels and planters form the roof of the shelter. A swing bench hangs from brass straps attached to the beams. The site for the granite and bronze sculpture Ritual Series/ Map of Memory 1990 is cut into the hillside; the surrounding earth is retained by a redwood wall containing planter pockets. Mesquite trees grow along the pathway and around the pavilion. The overlook landscape is carpeted with low ground covers and mosses with custom concrete steps and stepping stones emerging from the blanketed earth.

Filed Under: Fabrication Tagged With: art fabrication, Arts Management Services LLC, Michael Singer, Redwood Sculpture

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