Fabrication for the Sunset Spectacular continues at Northern Manufacturing's plant in Oak Harbor, Ohio. 10 out of 14 tesseract components are now completed and are on the queue for final glass bead blasting. Sub-assemblies for the rest of the Tesseract components are also complete and will soon be assembled into their final form.

16 North petal components have also recently been started, these will be assembled as one piece laying down flat in the fabrication floor. The same strategy will be used for 21 West components and 18 East components occupying three full fabrication bays. When ready to leave the plant, the pedals will be disassembled in super-components to be shipped in oversize loads from Oak Harbor to West Hollywood, where the final piece will be erected in only a few mega-components.

The scene on the plant floor is reminiscent of Lockheed Martin's Skunkworks during the production of the SR 71 Blackbird.

This week the TWA team visisted and observed the active construction site of The Dark Chalet in Eden Utah. The project has topped out and is nearly framed in. Stay tuned as the project gets closer and closer to its final form!

How do you translate a “TED meets Burning Man” vibe into the design of a year-round property—as the investors behind Utah’s ski slope–adjacent Summit Powder Mountain are attempting to do in their 10,000-acre, billionaire-friendly planned mountain community? Summit, a company that organizes meetings, talks, and events with innovators and entrepreneurs, is discovering the difference between putting on a weekend conference and opening a permanent settlement: The latter requires a balancing act between vision, pragmatics, and the somewhat unpredictable dynamics between the individuals who choose to settle in such a place. The trick is to create a population density that can support amenities like restaurants, grocery stores, and public gathering areas. But what comes first, these amenities or homes for people to use them?

MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects, Olson Kundig, Marmol Radziner, Studio Ma, JVA Arkitekter, and Tom Wiscombe Architecture are among the architects who have signed on to design some of Summit’s buildings.



Archpaper

The Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) has launched its own podcast, The Arc. The podcast is hosted by SCI-Arc History + Theory Coordinator Marrikka Trotter. Each episode, according to the school, "juxtaposes a contemporary architectural idea or concern with related concepts from other disciplines, ranging from science to sports, in casual, unscripted, and intimate conversations." So far, two full episodes have been released in the series, including one episode on Scale that focuses on examining the effect of size on architecture, experience, and design thinking. The episode features guest appearances by SCI-Arc Undergraduate Program Chair Tom Wiscombe, neuriscientist Dr. Yawende Pearse, and Bill Boes, a Hollywood production designer and art director.



archinect

TWA's Sunset Spectacular project appeared in The Architect's Newspaper in an article about the past, present and future of LA.



archpaper.com