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Above:
Impressions of the sculpture viewed in the street- click to enlarge
Below: aerial view of the area, showing an early proposal
for the lightpath from the garden to the glass pillar.
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Below:
an impression of the Memorial Garden and the mirrors.
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Above:
schematic of the light path at the garden
A: The Sun, whose light is tracked by B: The moving mirror, which
directs it constantly via C: an array of small mirrors,
onto D: the 31 small mirrors on poles.
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Above:
Garden plan.
Below Left: One of the large mirrors.
Below: The latest structural design of the obelisk
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Above left:
First model of the pillar.Note that this model is for engineering
purposes and does not show the heart as it will appear.
Below left:
How a layer of crystal glass cut with the spiral pattern would
fit inside the cavity forming the heart shape.
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Above right:
Architect Desmond FitzGerald with the model made by McGuire Glass
Below right:
The spiral pattern to be used as the basis for a crystal glass
layer inside the 'heart'.
This pattern has a history of use in ancient art to represent
'the descent of the Divine to the World, and the reverse journey'
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"The
Light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it"
(John 1:5)
(from the intended inscription)
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The actual site of the explosion will be marked by a pillar, apparently
of solid glass, about 4.5m high.
Near the top, inside, appears to float a 3-dimensional 'heart' in a
faceted cut-glass style.
The immediate image is that of the 'heart' suspended high in a frozen
beam of light.
Because of its position, the
site is more often than not in the shade.
In the Memorial Garden, about 300 metres around a corner, large mirrors
which are positioned by computer control will track the sun constantly,
and when it shines will pour constant beams of sunlight onto 31 pole-mounted
small mirrors, one for each fatality.
These mirrors are fixed and directed to bounce the light up the street,
around the corner, and via one more mirror mounted high on a nearby
gable, down onto the heart inside the obelisk.
It should sparkle and glitter gently with the light.
It will be a beautiful and remarkable sight.
The
approach to the artwork was that it could remember and honour the the
victims and offer something to the wider community by attempting to
simply, uninhibitedly and vividly express the enormity of the loss and
the natural feeling, and the outpouring, of compassion for them.
The
idea is a gesture towards redeeming human values
in the face of the atrocity.
The
'pillar', the final form of which was designed, as well as other elements,
by landscape architect Desmond
Fitzgerald who is also responsible for the Memorial Garden, is influenced
both by obelisks and cenotaphs. It has been constructed by a complex
process including laminating, i.e. attaching consecutive slabs of glass
together under extreme pressure and heat.
This 'stack' of glass was assembled on site and wrapped, on its sides
and top with a thick layer
of toughened glass to form a protective outer shell on the obwelisk.
In
some of the inner layers are cut holes with polished edges, designed
so they build in layers to form an oval cavity. In the middle three
of them the heart shape is mounted, in a complex framework made of optiwhite
glass, some of which Tyrone Crystal have hand-cut with a complex pattern.
(see illustration) It is incorporated
into the pillar using very modern technology.
The
'heart' -the ancient and universal verbal and visual symbol of the 'core'
or essential element of things, including the Human Being, of compassion,
and of fidelity.
In
between the halves of of the faceted heart, (which is based on the cutting
of diamonds), will be a layer carrying a pattern based on the fibbonaci
spiral, as seen in the centre of sunflowers, for instance, in spiral
galaxies and elsewhere in nature.
This
pattern has an ancient history of being used to represent the descent
of the Divine to the World and the reverse journey.
On the larger scale, the work also draws attention to our place in and
under the cycles of the cosmos and also to the optimistic-but-true reminder
that even in the dark we know that the Sun will rise again.
Though apparently complex, the moving-mirror technology is already existing.
Sun-tracking mirrors are known as known as 'heliostats', and a suitable
off-the-shelf system
will be adapted by a German firm.
Developed from high-end positioners for satellite dishes, they are driven
by a small box of electronics programmed to track the sun daily for
the next forty years. They operate very quietly for a fraction of a
second every 20 seconds to keep in position.
They are very sturdy and reliable and have been in use for years already
at many sites.
Since the sunlight is merely reflected by flat mirrors rather than concentrated,
there is no risk or health and safety issue.
LATEST NEWS:
July 08:
The
pillar has been installed.
February '08:
A one-fifth scale model of the pillar has been built. (see photos below,
left)
Building work
has commenced on the site.
LINKS:
The
competition and Design Brief:
short
article explaining the design competition
Download the design brief PDF (c. 900k) here
You
can download
our full stage 1 proposal document as a pdf here.
Further Information: Web-links related to the Omagh Bomb:
A
map of the immediate area
Wikipedia
article on Omagh Town
Wikipedia
article on the Omagh Bomb
The
'official' exhaustive archive of the event
The BBC's page with many links and items, including the playable 'Panorama-
"Who bombed Omagh?"'
The
BBC's news item on the day
The
most prominent independent web-page with many pages and statements from
families etc.
The
CAIN (academic) archive on the event
Partners
in the project:
Pilkington
Glass Ltd.- glass supply
Carey Glass Ltd.
- building the pillar
McGrory Contractors- site contractors
Billings
Design Associates - expertise
Egis
GmbH - heliostats
Tyrone Crystal
Ltd. - crystal glass
McGuire Glass
- glass model
White
Young Green - engineering
&
q/s
Seal
Systems Ireland and
Seal
Craft - sealants
and sealing
Thanks for help and advice:
IPIG Ltd. - glass engineers
Jeronim
Tisljar - glass sculptor
Canonbury
Resins Ltd. - acrylic resin
Resin & Glass Ltd. - acrylic resin
Dr. Peter Gallagher - Astrophysicist,
Trinity College Dublin
Dublin
Glass Centre - glass for model
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