Texas A&M University - SAMPLE MAP

Table of Contents

Locations

  1. Points of Interest

    1. Statues

      1. Prototype for Stellar Interloper (Silver Surfer)

        Prototype for Stellar Interloper (Silver Surfer), 2018

        By Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle - carbon fiber and aluminum alloy-foil

        Located between levels 2 & 3 of the Zachry Engineering Education Complex

        The evolution of this compelling form began with a simple, yet elegant, parabola referencing both compression and flow. The parabolic profile of a theoretical bow wave is made three-dimensional, replicating itself three times, and undergoing a twisted rotation on its vertical axis to create a complex double torus, mirrored vertically to suggest an infinite flow from top to bottom and bottom to top.

        This artwork can be said to be a meditation on the fluid dynamics of liquids and gas, or revolving topology of surfaces, or vortex mechanics, or the forces of comprehension and tension, and it certainly calls to mind aeronautical design, and yet it is not confined to any single area of study.

        Wonderment is the key to apprehending the work upon entering the atrium. It must leverage contemplation and attention, and acknowledge scrutiny and thought as the basis for an inquiring public.”— Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle
         

        The sculpture was fabricated using the latest technology for prototyping aviation and aeronautical designs. It began with CNC carving of 20-foot molds. These molds correspond to the inner and outer geometries of the six symmetrical components that make up the 40-foot form. Vacuums were used to create carbon fiber surfaces from the corresponding molds. These extremely thin carbon fiber forms are strengthened with a series of internal structural ribs, similar to an aeronautical fuselage. The ends of these fuselage components are fitted with machined aluminum bulkheads designed to mate with their corresponding parts.

        Before the sculpture was assembled, the carbon fiber surface was tiled with six-inch square aluminum alloy foil. The result: a flowing and overlapping square grid that wraps the entirety of the sculpture and was polished to a highly reflective silver surface, hence Silver Surfer.

        This work combines the artist’s previous work using hypersonic fluid-dynamics with the physics of large-scale bow shock events that occur around celestial bodies.