Client: Acuity Insurance Comany

Overview

Beginning in 2004, Belle Mead Hot Glass was approached by the CEO Acuity Insurance Company, Ben Salzmann to create a work in glass for his new corporate campus. Originally composed of 7 spheres of glass in diameters of 15 and 11 feet; the installation has grown to fourteen spheres in two phases to reflect the growth of the company and it's campus. Designed to tight engineering specifications, the work is composed of thousands of pieces of glass fixed to steel armatures made here in our shop.

Goals

From the beginning this project was a collaboration between CEO Ben Salzmann and Owner/Designer Robert Kuster. The vision for the spheres filling the giant glass walled gable ends of the Acuity campus was developed in partnership and conversation. The Sisters is a project that exists as an integration between the vision of two creative people and the realities both fixed and created of a space.

Process

Initial discussions centered around much smaller works, but once the spheres were chosen Robert Kuster accepted the challenge laid down by Ben Salzmann and they worked together to create the largest possible spheres that would work within the buildings architectural parameters. Weight limitations were very strict and required tight controls on all component parts in order to fulfill the size requests while staying safely within load limits. Full size mock-ups were created at the studio here and board members came in from across the country to inspect and approve the work. Color sampling and testing was key in creating the effect described in the brief and has continued through the present stage As the Campus has grown the Sisters have been integrated into building plans and doors and internal structures have been shaped to accommodate future installations. We see this as proof of a partnership in design and creation that brings long term value and joy to our clients.

Additional Information

Here is a link to a time lapse of our latest installation at Acuity. This was shot by their in-house media team and was pretty spectacular. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUuDJsWE6Pk&authuser=0 We've also blogged about the project and many people have tagged images under #sevensisters, #acuity