There’s a peculiar countdown underway at University of California, San Diego.
The hoist date is nearing for a miniature house that will be the 18th sculpture in UCSD’s acclaimed Stuart Collection. Crews are finishing the construction of the 15-by-18-foot, 70,000-pound house, a piece called “Fallen Star” by artist Do Ho Suh. The house is scheduled to be lifted by crane and perched at an angle over the edge of the seventh story at one of the Jacobs School of Engineering buildings on campus Nov. 15, unless there’s unsafe wind or bad weather.
Lots of people, including yours truly, are captivated by this effort. It’s an unusual construction project — there are no plumb lines or level surfaces on the thing. We’ll have a story in the next few days on the unique construction challenges.
Update: You can also catch a peek at the under-construction house in our NBC 7 San Diego segment this week:
View more videos at: http://nbcsandiego.com.
And here’s a rendering of how the piece is imagined. I learned Wednesday there’ll be a fireplace (with “smoke” drifting from the chimney), a television and working lights.
You can also watch our earlier interview with collection director Mary Beebe, who this year received a national award honoring her work at the Stuart Collection:
I am the arts editor for VOSD. You can reach me directly at kelly.bennett@voiceofsandiego.org or 619.325.0531. Or you can keep up with me on Twitter @kellyrbennett or on Facebook.