Unfolding Humanity is a 12 foot tall, 30 foot wide, 2 ton interactive metal sculpture that calls attention to the tension between technology and humanity. This sculpture was conceived, designed, and built by a large group (80+) of faculty, students, and community volunteers at the University of San Diego (USD). The piece is a dodecahedron whose pentagonal walls unfold under human power, an engineered design that alludes to Albrecht Dürer\u27s 500-year-old unsolved math problem on unfolding polyhedra. When closed, the mirrored interior of the sculpture makes visitors feel as though they are at the center of the universe. The idea for the sculpture began with two USD mathematics professors, they recount their journey elsewhere (Devadoss & Hoffoss, 2019). This narrative focuses on the story of bringing their vision to a reality

Alekseyeva, Viktoriya

Bellizzi, Ava

Cardoza, Nicholas

Hoople, Gordon D

Ortega, Eduardo

Parde, Nate

Platt, Sydney

Pratt, Quinn

Salvosa, Christiana

Sampson, Elizabeth

Splide, Alex

Sween, Michael

English

Keck Graduate Institute

The STEAM Journal
Volume 3
Issue 2 Standing Still Article 6
December 2018
Unfolding Humanity: Cross-Disciplinary Sculpture
Design
Gordon D. Hoople
University of San Diego
Nate Parde
University of San Diego
Quinn Pratt
University of San Diego
Sydney Platt
University of San Diego
Michael Sween
University of San Diego
See next page for additional authors
Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.claremont.edu/steam
Part of the Engineering Commons, Mathematics Commons, Sculpture Commons, and the
Theatre and Performance Studies Commons
© December 2018 by the author(s). This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommerical-NoDerivatives
License.
STEAM is a bi-annual journal published by the Claremont Colleges Library | ISSN 2327-2074 | http://scholarship.claremont.edu/steam
Recommended Citation
Hoople, Gordon D.; Parde, Nate; Pratt, Quinn; Platt, Sydney; Sween, Michael; Bellizzi, Ava; Alekseyeva, Viktoriya; Splide, Alex;
Cardoza, Nicholas; Salvosa, Christiana; Ortega, Eduardo; and Sampson, Elizabeth (2018) "Unfolding Humanity: Cross-Disciplinary
Sculpture Design," The STEAM Journal: Vol. 3: Iss. 2, Article 6. DOI: 10.5642/steam.20180302.06
Available at: https://scholarship.claremont.edu/steam/vol3/iss2/6
Unfolding Humanity: Cross-Disciplinary Sculpture Design
Abstract
Unfolding Humanity is a 12 foot tall, 30 foot wide, 2 ton interactive metal sculpture that calls attention to the
tension between technology and humanity. This sculpture was conceived, designed, and built by a large group
(80+) of faculty, students, and community volunteers at the University of San Diego (USD). The piece is a
dodecahedron whose pentagonal walls unfold under human power, an engineered design that alludes to
Albrecht Dürer's 500-year-old unsolved math problem on unfolding polyhedra. When closed, the mirrored
interior of the sculpture makes visitors feel as though they are at the center of the universe. The idea for the
sculpture began with two USD mathematics professors, they recount their journey elsewhere (Devadoss &
Hoffoss, 2019). This narrative focuses on the story of bringing their vision to a reality.
Author/Artist Bio
Gordon Hoople (Engineering) and Nate Parde (Theater) are professors at the University of San Diego
(USD). The remaining authors are current students and recent graduates from the Shiley-Marcos School of
Engineering at USD. All of the authors contributed in a substantial way to the design and construction of the
sculpture.
Keywords
STEAM, Maker, Kinematic Sculpture, Interdisciplinary
Cover Page Footnote
This project was a deeply collaborative effort, with over eighty volunteers and a faculty leadership team of
Susie Babka, Satyan Devadoss and Diane Hoffoss. We are particularly grateful to the community members,
without their effort this project would never have become a reality. In particular, the contributions of Max
Elliott, Lee Hemingway, and Sean Pennington went above and beyond. Thanks also to everyone at the USD
Machine Shop and San Diego CoLab for providing both valuable insight and a physical space for this
collaboration. Lastly this work was made possible by generous funding from USD and the San Diego
Collaborative Arts Project.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0
License.
Authors
Gordon D. Hoople, Nate Parde, Quinn Pratt, Sydney Platt, Michael Sween, Ava Bellizzi, Viktoriya Alekseyeva,
Alex Splide, Nicholas Cardoza, Christiana Salvosa, Eduardo Ortega, and Elizabeth Sampson
This field note is available in The STEAM Journal: https://scholarship.claremont.edu/steam/vol3/iss2/6
Unfolding Humanity: Cross-Disciplinary Sculpture Design 
 
Gordon D. Hoople, Nate Parde, Quinn Pratt, Sydney Platt, Michael Sween, Ava Bellizzi, 
Viktoriya Alekseyeva, Alex Splide, Nicholas Cardoza, Christiana Salvosa, Eduardo Ortega, & 
Elizabeth Sampson 
 
Unfolding Humanity is a 12-foot-tall, 30-foot-wide, 2-ton interactive metal sculpture that 
calls attention to the tension between technology and humanity. This sculpture was conceived, 
designed, and built by a large group (80+) of faculty, students, and community volunteers at the 
University of San Diego (USD). The piece is a dodecahedron whose pentagonal walls unfold under 
human power, an engineered design that alludes to Albrecht Dürer's 500-year-old unsolved math 
problem on unfolding polyhedra. When closed, the mirrored interior of the sculpture makes visitors 
feel as though they are at the center of the universe. The idea for the sculpture began with two 
USD mathematics professors, they recount their journey elsewhere (Devadoss & Hoffoss, 2019). 
This narrative focuses on the story of bringing their vision to a reality.  
The process of creating Unfolding Humanity brought together faculty and students at the 
University of San Diego from engineering, theatre, theology, and mathematics - a true STEAM 
collaboration. For the engineers on the project, including faculty from mathematics and theatre on 
the design team fundamentally changed the design process. Rather than designing to a set of 
specifications provided by an external client, the build was a collaborative process where voices 
from theatre and math were present at every step of the way. While this led to substantial conflict 
- for example parts of the artistic vision were discovered to be impossible from an engineering 
perspective - in the end the success of the sculpture was due to this collaborative approach. 
1
Hoople et al.: Unfolding Humanity: Cross-Disciplinary Sculpture Design
The design process began with an engineering student working closely with the math 
faculty to develop an artistic rendering of the desired sculpture in Blender, a 3D graphics tool 
(Figure 1). From this conceptual rendering, a larger team was assembled to create a design that 
could be physically constructed. Due the unique geometry of the dodecahedron, the team quickly 
realized that the desired kinematics - which linked together two pentagonal faces at complex angles 
- were impossible from an engineering perspective given the constraints on time and budget. This 
led to several different conceptual revisions and simplifications - eventually landing on the concept 
shown in Figure 2. What is not shown is that between these two figures were dozens of preliminary 
hand calculations and simple computer models developed to evaluate the designs for feasibility. 
Having agreed upon a conceptual model, a detailed design was created using the computer aided 
design (CAD) package Solidworks (see Figure 3). As the sculpture called for large pentagonal 
panels to be lifted overhead, safety was a major concern. As such, the CAD model was used to 
develop detailed finite element analysis (FEA) and kinematic simulations to validate the design.  
The last phase of the project was to build the sculpture. In retrospect, the team realized that 
the project should have been spread out over a considerably longer period of time. Compressing 
the build phase for a 4,000-pound moving steel sculpture with 17,000 LEDs into 10 weeks was, to 
say the least, unwise. The structural build was completed by a core team of five engineering 
students, supported through undergraduate summer research grants. Their work was 
complemented by contributions from 80+ community volunteers - without whose help the project 
never would have been completed. The build took place at both the Shiley-Marcos School of 
Engineering at the University of San Diego as well as Co-Lab, a collaborative workspace for 
creating both communities and art in San Diego. Students and community members intermingled 
throughout the process, providing many opportunities for students to learn from community  
2
The STEAM Journal, Vol. 3, Iss. 2 [2018], Art. 6
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/steam/vol3/iss2/6
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Figure 1. The original conceptual design for the Unfolding Humanity sculpture. 
3
Hoople et al.: Unfolding Humanity: Cross-Disciplinary Sculpture Design
 members and vice-versa. One of the best aspects of the project was the informal learning 
that happened during these interactions.  
After the sculpture was completed, it was unveiled at Burning Man 2018, a premier large 
sculpture festival. A subset of the team, including faculty, students, and community members, 
traveled to the remote Black Rock Desert of northwest Nevada to assemble the sculpture. It was 
then transported back to San Diego and reconstructed at the San Diego Maker Faire (see Figure 
4). Those that visited the sculpture had a wide range of reactions: some were transfixed by the 
artistic elements, some deeply pondered the mathematical implications, and still others marveled 
at the engineering design. 
Throughout this project the authors of this narrative (primarily engineers) became aware 
of just how crucial the artistic aspect was to this experience. While this successful completion of 
this sculpture required STEM skills, it was the artistic element that was transformative. It was the 
artistic vision that built a community - bringing together students, welders, LED gurus, artists, set 
designers, and engineers. It was the shear spectacle of the sculpture that constantly made passersby 
stop and ask “What… are you building?” For many of those involved this was their first STEAM 
project, but it will certainly not be the last.  
 
 
 
 
4
The STEAM Journal, Vol. 3, Iss. 2 [2018], Art. 6
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/steam/vol3/iss2/6
  
Figure 2. The final conceptual design. Substantial changes were required from the original 
design. 
 
Figure 3. The engineering CAD model that was developed to evaluate the design for safety. 
5
Hoople et al.: Unfolding Humanity: Cross-Disciplinary Sculpture Design
  
Figure 4. Unfolding Humanity in its final form, installed at the San Diego Maker Faire. 
6
The STEAM Journal, Vol. 3, Iss. 2 [2018], Art. 6
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/steam/vol3/iss2/6
References 
 
Devadoss, S., & Hoffoss, D. (To Appear 2019) Unfolding Humanity: Mathematics at Burning 
Man. Notices of the American Mathematical Society. 
 
7
Hoople et al.: Unfolding Humanity: Cross-Disciplinary Sculpture Design


Unfolding Humanity: Cross-Disciplinary Sculpture Design

Scholarship@Claremont

The STEAM JournalVolume 3Issue 2 Standing Still Article 6December 2018Unfolding Humanity: Cross-Disciplinary SculptureDesignGordon D. HoopleUniversity of San DiegoNate PardeUniversity of San DiegoQuinn PrattUniversity of San DiegoSydney PlattUniversity of San DiegoMichael SweenUniversity of San DiegoSee next page for additional authorsFollow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.claremont.edu/steamPart of the Engineering Commons, Mathematics Commons, Sculpture Commons, and theTheatre and Performance Studies Commons© December 2018 by the author(s). This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommerical-NoDerivativesLicense.STEAM is a bi-annual journal published by the Claremont Colleges Library | ISSN 2327-2074 | http://scholarship.claremont.edu/steamRecommended CitationHoople, Gordon D.; Parde, Nate; Pratt, Quinn; Platt, Sydney; Sween, Michael; Bellizzi, Ava; Alekseyeva, Viktoriya; Splide, Alex;Cardoza, Nicholas; Salvosa, Christiana; Ortega, Eduardo; and Sampson, Elizabeth (2018) "Unfolding Humanity: Cross-DisciplinarySculpture Design," The STEAM Journal: Vol. 3: Iss. 2, Article 6. DOI: 10.5642/steam.20180302.06Available at: https://scholarship.claremont.edu/steam/vol3/iss2/6Unfolding Humanity: Cross-Disciplinary Sculpture DesignAbstractUnfolding Humanity is a 12 foot tall, 30 foot wide, 2 ton interactive metal sculpture that calls attention to thetension between technology and humanity. This sculpture was conceived, designed, and built by a large group(80+) of faculty, students, and community volunteers at the University of San Diego (USD). The piece is adodecahedron whose pentagonal walls unfold under human power, an engineered design that alludes toAlbrecht Dürer's 500-year-old unsolved math problem on unfolding polyhedra. When closed, the mirroredinterior of the sculpture makes visitors feel as though they are at the center of the universe. The idea for thesculpture began with two USD mathematics professors, they recount their journey elsewhere (Devadoss &Hoffoss, 2019). This narrative focuses on the story of bringing their vision to a reality.Author/Artist BioGordon Hoople (Engineering) and Nate Parde (Theater) are professors at the University of San Diego(USD). The remaining authors are current students and recent graduates from the Shiley-Marcos School ofEngineering at USD. All of the authors contributed in a substantial way to the design and construction of thesculpture.KeywordsSTEAM, Maker, Kinematic Sculpture, InterdisciplinaryCover Page FootnoteThis project was a deeply collaborative effort, with over eighty volunteers and a faculty leadership team ofSusie Babka, Satyan Devadoss and Diane Hoffoss. We are particularly grateful to the community members,without their effort this project would never have become a reality. In particular, the contributions of MaxElliott, Lee Hemingway, and Sean Pennington went above and beyond. Thanks also to everyone at the USDMachine Shop and San Diego CoLab for providing both valuable insight and a physical space for thiscollaboration. Lastly this work was made possible by generous funding from USD and the San DiegoCollaborative Arts Project.Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0License.AuthorsGordon D. Hoople, Nate Parde, Quinn Pratt, Sydney Platt, Michael Sween, Ava Bellizzi, Viktoriya Alekseyeva,Alex Splide, Nicholas Cardoza, Christiana Salvosa, Eduardo Ortega, and Elizabeth SampsonThis field note is available in The STEAM Journal: https://scholarship.claremont.edu/steam/vol3/iss2/6Unfolding Humanity: Cross-Disciplinary Sculpture Design  Gordon D. Hoople, Nate Parde, Quinn Pratt, Sydney Platt, Michael Sween, Ava Bellizzi, Viktoriya Alekseyeva, Alex Splide, Nicholas Cardoza, Christiana Salvosa, Eduardo Ortega, & Elizabeth Sampson  Unfolding Humanity is a 12-foot-tall, 30-foot-wide, 2-ton interactive metal sculpture that calls attention to the tension between technology and humanity. This sculpture was conceived, designed, and built by a large group (80+) of faculty, students, and community volunteers at the University of San Diego (USD). The piece is a dodecahedron whose pentagonal walls unfold under human power, an engineered design that alludes to Albrecht Dürer's 500-year-old unsolved math problem on unfolding polyhedra. When closed, the mirrored interior of the sculpture makes visitors feel as though they are at the center of the universe. The idea for the sculpture began with two USD mathematics professors, they recount their journey elsewhere (Devadoss & Hoffoss, 2019). This narrative focuses on the story of bringing their vision to a reality.  The process of creating Unfolding Humanity brought together faculty and students at the University of San Diego from engineering, theatre, theology, and mathematics - a true STEAM collaboration. For the engineers on the project, including faculty from mathematics and theatre on the design team fundamentally changed the design process. Rather than designing to a set of specifications provided by an external client, the build was a collaborative process where voices from theatre and math were present at every step of the way. While this led to substantial conflict - for example parts of the artistic vision were discovered to be impossible from an engineering perspective - in the end the success of the sculpture was due to this collaborative approach. 1Hoople et al.: Unfolding Humanity: Cross-Disciplinary Sculpture DesignThe design process began with an engineering student working closely with the math faculty to develop an artistic rendering of the desired sculpture in Blender, a 3D graphics tool (Figure 1). From this conceptual rendering, a larger team was assembled to create a design that could be physically constructed. Due the unique geometry of the dodecahedron, the team quickly realized that the desired kinematics - which linked together two pentagonal faces at complex angles - were impossible from an engineering perspective given the constraints on time and budget. This led to several different conceptual revisions and simplifications - eventually landing on the concept shown in Figure 2. What is not shown is that between these two figures were dozens of preliminary hand calculations and simple computer models developed to evaluate the designs for feasibility. Having agreed upon a conceptual model, a detailed design was created using the computer aided design (CAD) package Solidworks (see Figure 3). As the sculpture called for large pentagonal panels to be lifted overhead, safety was a major concern. As such, the CAD model was used to develop detailed finite element analysis (FEA) and kinematic simulations to validate the design.  The last phase of the project was to build the sculpture. In retrospect, the team realized that the project should have been spread out over a considerably longer period of time. Compressing the build phase for a 4,000-pound moving steel sculpture with 17,000 LEDs into 10 weeks was, to say the least, unwise. The structural build was completed by a core team of five engineering students, supported through undergraduate summer research grants. Their work was complemented by contributions from 80+ community volunteers - without whose help the project never would have been completed. The build took place at both the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering at the University of San Diego as well as Co-Lab, a collaborative workspace for creating both communities and art in San Diego. Students and community members intermingled throughout the process, providing many opportunities for students to learn from community  2The STEAM Journal, Vol. 3, Iss. 2 [2018], Art. 6https://scholarship.claremont.edu/steam/vol3/iss2/6                Figure 1. The original conceptual design for the Unfolding Humanity sculpture. 3Hoople et al.: Unfolding Humanity: Cross-Disciplinary Sculpture Design members and vice-versa. One of the best aspects of the project was the informal learning that happened during these interactions.  After the sculpture was completed, it was unveiled at Burning Man 2018, a premier large sculpture festival. A subset of the team, including faculty, students, and community members, traveled to the remote Black Rock Desert of northwest Nevada to assemble the sculpture. It was then transported back to San Diego and reconstructed at the San Diego Maker Faire (see Figure 4). Those that visited the sculpture had a wide range of reactions: some were transfixed by the artistic elements, some deeply pondered the mathematical implications, and still others marveled at the engineering design. Throughout this project the authors of this narrative (primarily engineers) became aware of just how crucial the artistic aspect was to this experience. While this successful completion of this sculpture required STEM skills, it was the artistic element that was transformative. It was the artistic vision that built a community - bringing together students, welders, LED gurus, artists, set designers, and engineers. It was the shear spectacle of the sculpture that constantly made passersby stop and ask “What… are you building?” For many of those involved this was their first STEAM project, but it will certainly not be the last.      4The STEAM Journal, Vol. 3, Iss. 2 [2018], Art. 6https://scholarship.claremont.edu/steam/vol3/iss2/6  Figure 2. The final conceptual design. Substantial changes were required from the original design.  Figure 3. The engineering CAD model that was developed to evaluate the design for safety. 5Hoople et al.: Unfolding Humanity: Cross-Disciplinary Sculpture Design  Figure 4. Unfolding Humanity in its final form, installed at the San Diego Maker Faire. 6The STEAM Journal, Vol. 3, Iss. 2 [2018], Art. 6https://scholarship.claremont.edu/steam/vol3/iss2/6References  Devadoss, S., & Hoffoss, D. (To Appear 2019) Unfolding Humanity: Mathematics at Burning Man. Notices of the American Mathematical Society.  7Hoople et al.: Unfolding Humanity: Cross-Disciplinary Sculpture Design

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