It weighs 22 tonnes, and measures 21m long, 11m wide and 17m high. It sits lightly on the ground with just one cantilevered support point.
Structural design innovations included the use of radial and cross-sectional internal stiffeners at junctions to allow thinner walled tubes to be utilised. This was critical in ensuring the CHS’s were able to be rolled to the required curvatures. Internal ‘cruciforms’ were also detailed to provide the required strength at the harder working barb to main quill junctions.
Following extensive analysis and modelling by Lewis Bradford, thousands of hours of meticulous work in ACME’s workshop went into hiding all of the connections and stiffeners inside the tubular members, such that there are no visible connections in the final sculpture.
A special feature of Touchdown that adds to its ethereal quality, is the opaque fiberglass quill tip, mimicking nature, that is itself four metres long and was fabricated to transition perfectly with the steel tube quill.
2025 SESOC Awards – Heritage and Culture Commendation Award
2024 SCNZ Excellence in Steel Awards – Category Winner
