Hive
Google Cloud
The Team
Paul is a Production Designer, Art Director with 25 years of international project work in feature film, commercials, TV, theatre, experiential art, and architecture. Paul has won Prestigious awards for film at Cannes, Berlin, Sundance, and Sao Paolo to name but a few, and D&AD and TCM. He is a graduate of the Royal College of Art working for Claes Oldenburg, Saatchi & Saatchi, TBWA, Shaw Brothers, etc. Paul now seeks to unlock the potential of AI to enhance his work and provide new pathways for design.
Charles Speak
Art Director
Charlie Speak is a Multimedia Storyteller, specialising in Art Direction and Creative Set Design. His work spans High Fashion, Film, TV, Music, Events, Exhibitions, and Installations.
Daniel O'Reardon
Lead Carpenter
Dan is our professional carpenter, maker and technician. He has been crafting artwork for 30 years specialising in carpentry, metalwork, electronics and mixed media. He has amassed an impressive portfolio including civic and commercial projects in the UK and Europe, high profile fine art installations and film and theatre builds and set pieces.
Laura Laden
Project Manager
Laura is our trusted Project Manager, with 15 years of international experiential events, corporate and commercial product launches, and high-profile art sales. Her background is in politics and NGOs and has worked for the European Commission, SASS, Citibank, European Partnership for Democracy and Fairtrade Foundation
Ed Chudleigh
Artist/Engineer
Edward is a Bath based Artist, Engineer and Inventor taking his inspiration from robotic technology and traditional art techniques.
Edward's sculptures start life as sketches of basic shapes and forms that are then "visualized" to completion through a progression of sketches. Most sculptures are “realised” in a self-built, state-of-the-art computer and robotics lab in Bath.
Adelaide Purdy
Asst. Art Director
Adelaide Purdy, a budding artist from Salford, has made a remarkable entrance into the realm of set design and art direction. Her journey has seen her assisting on diverse installations across the UK. Notably, she lent her artistic touch to the spring showcase, "No Rain, No Flowers" at Victoria Gate in Leeds, and crafted the intriguing "Industrial Garden" for Eccles town centre's "Wild in Art" walk project. Recently, she debuted tracks from her upcoming EP at the "Unapologetic-Self" exhibition at Islington Mill in Salford, collaborating with artist Chloe Julia Smith in an evocative blend of music and movement.
The Brief
The task is to design a stand for Bonnier News at a Summit in Stockholm, showcasing their digital transformation with Google Cloud. The challenge is to create an analog, kinetic motion machine like Rude Goldberg machines and rolling ball machines.
ELEMENTS
• The machine needs to be in perpetual or constant motion.
• Require a minimum of technical attention during the summit.
• Showcase Google Cloud services using Big Query through a narrative of the Bonnier Customer Journey.
• Adhere to corporate branding where necessary.
The Solution
The machine will be built from a mixture of old and new machinery parts of typewriters, cogs and print hammers, mixed with bare copper rails with raw wood and textured surface patinas all adhering to an aesthetic that tells the story of the Bonnier company.
After several rapid design annotations, and due to a very short 3-day lead time of the pitch the chosen design emerged. A structure referencing Olafur Eliassun, Fjordenhus, modernist Danish architecture, and an OLAP data cube with a handmade rolling ball machine and electric turbines to enable a self-supportive habitat.
This machine is a Business Model, quite literally. The machine's job is to convey a certain user flow based on Bonnier News subscriptions. Using rolling balls (data) the machine highlights the partnership between Google products and Bonnier News to create a stronger, streamlined online service.
Product Flow
Meet The Team
User Flow
Sketches
Design 1: Prism
This design encapsulated the rolling ball machine in an acrylic cube the position of the cube is mounted at an angle, appearing that it is floating. There are six circular portals with tilted frames reminiscent of Swedish design. The structure had kinetic movement, the acrylic case spun clockwise on its vertical axis, the inner wooden carcass spun counter-clockwise on its vertical axis as well and the rolling balls had a vertical gravity fall and central turbine climb.
On further research, this design is also reminiscent of the Antikythera Mechanism often referred to as the world's first computer, found in Greece in 1901 aboard a Roman Gallion at the bottom of the Mediterranean.
Although this design was loved by the client it proved to be outside budget allocation. Perhaps in the future, this design can be revived.
Design 2: Hive
This design is an open-plan segmented
and sectional structure. Each floor is
created to house elements from the
user flow in a hierarchical staged process showing the Google product engine at the bottom powering Bonnier News frontend subscription service. In consultation with Google Cloud tech and Bonnier News, an appropriate User Flow was decided upon and key products were chosen to be represented in line with the Bonnier News and Google partnership.
The design comprises of multiple laser-cut and handmade components each joined by a copper rolling track and driven by two turbines independent of each other. The machine runs five systems on a loop to control the complexity of the User flow in conjunction with gravity. To represent data we use marbles and ball bearings. Ballbearings for Bonnier News on the top floor and dropping through the machine to the ground. Marbles in Google colors will be used to represent data running through Google Cloud products.
This design was engineered as a solution to meet both the available budget and time.
Design 2: Hive - Development
A local artist and engineer was commissioned to create the centerpiece of the Hive. The centerpiece is the main control system of the user flow comprising the interplay between Big Query, One Data, and Bonnier Audience. I thought this required a special look and feel and therefore commissioned a piece that was conceptual in look, material, and concept.
The piece comprises split honeycomb dodecahedrons created by calculating data captured from a real beehive.
To make each dodecahedron, the dimensions of the honeycomb (produced by the bees) were measured, with many subsequent drawings and models following. Once a 3D model had been created, a bespoke 3D printer was developed, from scratch, by the artist.
The concept of a computer-generated Dodechyhedron (the strongest form on the planet) and subsequent polygons assimilating a Bee honeycomb provides a visual strength to the narrative. It suggests that Google Cloud provides trusted strength and security with its data handling and products.
Created by sending lines of “G-Code” from a computer to the 3D printer, each section takes 7 hours to print. G-code is a computer numerical control (CNC) programming language used widely in 3D printing. The printer uses the code to mimic the way the bees create a natural honeycomb, building up layers on top of each other. Over 160 million lines of code were produced to create the entire sculpture.