Topography UHPC

opography’ utilizes cast footprints of community members to assemble a textural relief map of the area serviced by the Burnside Gorge Community Centre. This map blends the natural topography with City zoning demarcations in a process directly involving the public.

The artist, Tyler Hodgins, put out a call to the community for volunteers to come to the Centre and have their foot cast with a simple foam-casting technique commonly used by podiatrists to make orthotics. This simple, clean, process left the artist with an accurate impression of the bottom of the feet. He then used them to make a positive cast with plaster. The goal of this process was to assemble a variety of foot impressions representative of the community and its demographic.

A large number of foot shapes and sizes, representing over 350 people, were cut into sections and fitted into place using city zoning as a guide. Larger city blocks and clearly defined areas were assembled and cast as individual units, with some streets and borders left as negative spaces.

plaster castings ready for urethane

individual sections ready for rubber

urethane rubber cast

details of plater cast with urethane

The assembled sections of plaster were brought to the Szolyd team, from which rubber molds were made. The Szolyd team prepared the plaster by sealing the porous material, filling in large undercuts and building watertight boxes around the plaster positives.

nce the plaster models were released from the urethane rubber molds, they were with cast with Ductal, embedded with fasteners and arranged on the wall so that the spaces in between represented major streets.

Topography’ utilizes cast footprints of community members to assemble a textural relief map of the area serviced by the Burnside Gorge Community Centre. This map blends the natural topography with City zoning demarcations in a process directly involving the public.

The artist, Tyler Hodgins, put out a call to the community for volunteers to come to the Centre and have their foot cast with a simple foam-casting technique commonly used by podiatrists to make orthotics. This simple, clean, process left the artist with an accurate impression of the bottom of the feet. He then used them to make a positive cast with plaster. The goal of this process was to assemble a variety of foot impressions representative of the community and its demographic. A large number of foot shapes and sizes, representing over 350 people, were cut into sections and fitted into place using city zoning as a guide. Larger city blocks and clearly defined areas were assembled and cast as individual units, with some streets and borders left as negative spaces.

The assembled sections of plaster were brought to the Szolyd team, from which rubber molds were made. The Szolyd team prepared the plaster by sealing the porous material, filling in large undercuts and building watertight boxes around the plaster positives.

Once the plaster models were released from the urethane rubber molds, they were with cast with Ductal, embedded with fasteners and arranged on the wall so that the spaces in between represented major streets.

Szolyd works with artists to take part in the design and fabrication stages of public art projects all over North America. We have consulted with artists in Toronto Ontario, Seattle, Portland, Vancouver, Los Angeles, New York and Boston.