Steven Holl's studio Steven Holl Architects has installed a new wooden sculpture at the Art Omi Sculpture and Architecture Park in Ghent, New York. 

Called Obolin, the sculpture was designed by using three cutouts subtracted from spherical geometry to mark the exact location of the sun’s vector based on its Hudson Valley location at noon on the Summer and Winter Solstices, and at 2:00 pm on the Equinox. 

Obolin was named by Steven Holl’s four-year-old daughter Io Helene, who, when asked what Obolin means, replied: "it means exactly what you want it to mean."

Obolin was locally fabricated from a single, 50 foot long sheet of CLT, stack laminated and milled with a 7-axis robotic arm, and was assembled on site.

It is the second sculpture by Steven Holl to be installed at Art Omi’s Sculpture and Architecture Park. The first sculpture was "One Two Five", a sculpture cut by CNC from 21-million-year old Lecce limestone was installed at Art Omi in 2018. 

The new sculpture will remain on view through November 2020.

Preliminary sketch. Image © Steven Holl

Project facts

Location: Ghent, NY
Client: Art Omi
Size: 7’ x 7’ x 7’
Design: Steven Holl Architects
Fabrication: Digifabshop in Hudson, NY
Engineering and life cycle analysis: by Knippers Helbig

All images © Steven Holl Architects

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