Stunning steel tower sculpture installed at a local park. beaconsoccer.com/beacon-sw/
We recently installed this custom metal archway sculpture at the entrance to Beacon Park. This was a partnership with the South Side Community Coalition to add a beautiful piece of art in South Lansing.
For the past 18 years the South Side Community Coalition has been working with the community to provide educational programs, job training, health programs and recreational opportunities for youth, families, and seniors. They recently did a massive overhaul of Beacon Park adding amenities such as a walking trail, playground, and arena soccer field.
To add some visibility to the park they asked us to design and fabricate a large metal archway to sit at the western entrance located near the corner of W Holmes and Pleasant Grove. The design we came up towers over 15 feet in the air and is sure to catch peoples attention!
We started by building the frames of the two pillars. We knew we needed something heavy duty for a project of this magnitude so we used some 2″ square cold rolled steel tubing with 12 gauge steel plates holding everything together.
The archway itself posed some challenges, bending 2″ steel tubing requires a very large and specific machine but after some searching we found the right tool for job. Both pieces had to be rolled at very specific radiuses to ensure they fit together right.
Next we fabricated the galvannealed steel panels and laser cut this stunning star pattern on them which wraps up and around the pillars.
With all the steel used for this project the overall weight of the sculpture was pretty immense so we had to bring in a SkyTrak telehandler to lift the arch onto the pillars in order to fit the pieces together properly.
Once everything was fitted together we disassembled the sculpture and sent it off to be powder coated in a stunning blue color that matches the overall aesthetic of the park.
Like any project of this magnitude the installation had some challenges but we brought in some extra muscle and equipment and get the job done. We started by lifting the two pillars in place and secured them to the concrete pads using 8″ lag screws and some concrete epoxy to ensure they weren’t going anywhere.
The next step was getting the archway up. We didn’t have access to the SkyTrak for this but we got the job done using a hand cranked equipment lift. Once the archway was securely attached to the pillars the final step was installing the galvannealed steel panel. We used a 1/4″-20 tap to drill into the frame and secured the panels using some nickel plated hex bolts.
While doing the installation we had multiple cars stop to admire the work, it’s definitely an eye catcher! All of us here at Michigan Imagery are passionate about the things the South Side Community Coalition are doing to enrich the community and assist the residents of South Lansing. We look forward to doing more projects like this in the future!