https://www.patreon.com/turtlebear

A series of virtual reality guided meditations available on Patreon.  At its broadest level this is an exploration of the variety of platforms currently available to communicate spatial content.  Stereo equirectangular panoramas on youTube which are visible on all platforms to google daydream apps designed specifically for android viewers, there are a growing collection of experiences to try out.  More than anything we want your feedback as Oliver is dedicated to telling the metaphorical saga of his digestion.

Both a concept and a construction this is a billboard constructed in the desert to advertise a future construction project on the site.  Click to see full size to learn about the modern and historic amenities to be included at the site.  In many ways this project is an exploration of our practical expectations for future constructions and our fanciful imaginings of what might yet happen.  It is intended to explore a way to solidify the conceptual.

Exhibited as part of Spectacular Subdivisions (curated by Jay Lizo for Monte Vista projects in collaboration with High Desert Test Sites. ) More info here.

NV88 is a temporary airport that is pulled from 2 shipping containers, assembled, used for a month and then packed back up for the rest of the year.  It sits in an incredibly extreme environment and must also be fun.  Jenda Michl (vertu design) and myself came up with the concept of a steel rib network providing a horse shoe shaped structure that is held together with perpendicular slats to create the floor and seating areas.  A series of carbon fiber rods cross the cross section and further weave with one another before tethering to the ground.  The entire system is locked in place with a fabric membrane precoded with assembly instructions and connection systems.

A proposal for the the Rowland Heights Community Center which Didier Hess was short listed to create a proposal for in 2012

create 5 telescopes similar to those found at landmarks and national parks, but when you look through them there are other features superimposed into the landscape. these features would come from interviewing locals in the park about what they imagine seeing on the horizon, in the future and the past. the system uses a periscope and hidden diorama within the base of the telescope to create the illusion. made of similar material to those left out in public they would be impervious to damage, and free. each would be different in height, and content of view.

In 2011 I created a concept upon being short listed to design an artwork for a parking structure.  The piece was designed to take light from the sun as it set and direct it through solar tubes to the other side of the building, creating a “green flash.”  The Green Flash is a popular almost mythical (as it is very rarely witnessed but often talked about)  phenomenon of the occasional reflection of the sun after setting through the atmosphere and displaying a momentary green flash.  The light tubes illustrate a burst of light on the side of the parking structure and are themselves annodized green and and terminate with cubic retro reflector scintillators.   Additional tubes act as periscopes, allowing people on the ground to look out at the ocean.

A permanent land art installation for the city of Denver with Jenna Didier that incorporates fog and compressed air to play with one’s perception of space and emphasize the sky and its ever-varying qualities of light. The piece is a large bowl of land about thirty feet in diameter and six feet deep. The sides of the basin have been built up using the excavated soil and are planted with native grasses. When a visitor enters the basin, fog begins to emerge from flush-mounted stainless steel canisters in the floor of the basin. If the air is still, the fog will become more and more dense, filling the cavity of the earth bowl up to its rim. The average visitor will be enveloped in the fog, unable to see anything around them except the sky. An air cannon also flush-mounted in the basin floor will detonate a few moments after the basin is completely

full of fog, sending a jellyfish-like plume of fog into the air above the earth basin. At night, this fog basin will be suffused with the light of LEDs that are also mounted in the flush-mounted canisters and controlled by timers. This system is designed to run off filtered city water. Unlike traditional interactive water features, this is a very low water consumer, it requires little maintenance, and since it only operates when someone is there to enjoy it, it saves electricity. When seen from a distance, it is a striking feature on the landscape.

December 2009 proposal for gateway to the libbey bowl outdoor theater in ojai ca.  The name is derived from the catalog of cut glass products made by the libbey glass company.  The idea was to create a gateway which appears split or spread light, an interaction of stainless steel rods with crystals on their ends which bend to block or allow entry in a unique and beautiful way.

Produced for an invitation to design sculptures for 2 round-abouts in Santa Cruz.  The idea of this project was to move these pots in relationship to climate changes, the trees would then grow to record trends in the climate

This concept for the Hacienda Heights community center was based on Oliver being struck upon exploring the site and seeing nearly a dozen plastic playground sets which were all apparently slated to be destroyed when the site was upgraded.  He measured all the parts of all the playground sets, designed a system to helically cut all the hollow molded plastic components separately and make a sort of explosion of plastic ribbons from the tympanum of the soon to be constructed outdoor theater.  It was applauded for its use of color by the country arts commission but ultimately not selected.

There are about 2 linear blocks of pergola structure on the west side of the san diego union station.  Beside that another smaller pergola welcomes people who want to cut through from the tracks to the coast.  Passing through a private real estate development which requested concepts for an iconic artwork.  I did these concepts for a “whirl” of pergola which connected the existing structural language to a frozen in a dramatic gesture.  Similar to a beautiful photograph of a storm at sea.