Architects
Evan Stoller
"Hudson Museum on the Ecliptic"
Evan Stoller’s sculpture, “Hudson Museum on the Ecliptic”, developed after discussions about vessels and my wish to create an analogous form of the ship ‘Half Moon’. Inviting public participation in either the construction of the sculpture or in an ongoing transformation of the piece throughout the summer was a possibility. This piece evolved from these ideas and also references a series of recently completed sculptures that incorporate the display of small artworks in their design. Some of the sculptures contain a single small painting by an artist I admire. In other works, my drawings clarify aspects of the sculpture in which they exist. These pieces bridge the concepts of sculpture, frame, podium and display case.
This sculpture takes the form of a 38–foot diameter ring. In form and detail the ring seems both like a large architectural model and a full–scale mechanical component. Within the structure, I wanted to create a small–scale interior that seems habitable. Connecting the separate cells from which the ring is constructed, an interior promenade suggests a walkway along its inner circumference. The site chosen is framed by a circular wall near the entrance drive. The light floating ring sculpture is thus enclosed by an outer curving stone wall that specifies its place in the landscape.
The sculpture embodies the concept of a vessel; a container that could protect a functioning internal system. I began to think about what Hudson’s ship would look like if he were exploring today. This seemed like an appropriate memorial for Henry Hudson; not a place in which he’s enshrined, but a craft in which he travels. Explorers are really facilitators, leaders of men and minds. In this sense, I wanted to reference Hudson’s crew and express the human activity within the hull of his ship. The installation and display of drawings or objects within the ring’s structure transforms the anonymous modules into small galleries, and the sculpture becomes a active container.
The core of the structure is composed of 128 short lengths of aluminum channels, which form a circle when bolted together. Cantilevering out from this core are thin ribs of aluminum, wood struts and plywood panels. A ring is an efficient structure, and this donut form covers a lot of ground. Occupying 1,400 square feet with only 128 small trapezoidal boxes is definitely a job for a circle. Structurally, rings have many advantages. Forces are shared among the modules of the ring leading to structural rigidity with a minimum of material. The sculpture is braced laterally by its uphill contact with the ground, which falls away from it on the sloping site. Construction is simple because the individual modules are identical.
Bio
Evan Stoller has been a practicing architect since 1992. His firm has completed numerous residential, commercial and landscape design projects.
Stoller is a graduate of The Pratt Institute School of Architecture. He has displayed architectural models and large–scale sculptures throughout the Northeast. Stoller is a registered architect in New York and Massachusetts, and is certified by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards.
Stoller is also active as a sculptor and furniture designer. He comments, “All of my work is based on a clarity of purpose and an efficiency of materials and methods of construction. Structural honesty has always informed my designs. From the spatial arrangement of cells and skeletal frameworks to man–made engineered forms, structures are the inspiration and reference for my work. Good architectural design involves a search for truth within each project, and a rejection of both expediency and empty novelty. To me, the best buildings inspire and empower those who use them. My role as architect is to contain a project within its essential parameters, and tune it until it resonates.”
