Centennial Chromography

Design: Adam Marcus, Daniel Raznick
Fabrication & Assembly: Adam Marcus, Daniel Raznick, Jordan Barlow, Sam Daley, Kevin Groenke
Computational Design (Catalyst Workshop, March 2013): Nathan Miller (CASE)

Prototyping (Catalyst Workshop, March 2013): Will Adams, Philip Bussey, Sam Daley, Matthew Enos, Derek Gallagher, Mohsen Ghanbari, Dantes Ha, Hwan Kim, Benjamin Kraft, Wei Liu, Daniel Raznick, Stuart Shrimpton, Christina Smith
Centennial Graphic Identity: Kai Salmela

The Centennial Chromagraph is a life-size representation of the history of the University of Minnesota School of Architecture. The project is an exercise in data spatialization: using computational design tools to generate formal and spatial constructions with large quantities of data--in this case, information collected over the 100-year history of UMN's architecture school. The installation consists of 100 robotically-routed plywood ribs, joined together with 8,080 colored #2 pencils. The curvature of the ribs expresses major historical eras and periods of the School--the tenures of its leadership, the buildings it has occupied, the colleges it has belonged to--while the color of the pencils reflects the changing composition of the School's degree programs over the past century. (for more, see the Variable Projects website

The Chromograph in the news:

Nine Minnesota firms win architecture honors [including Variable Projects for the Chromograph]

Art Spotlight: 100 years for U of M architecture department

An installation made from 8,080 pencils