Art installation completed at Census building

CSSI fabricated and installed a curved 40-foot-long by 10-foot-tall light box to permanently display artist Jason Salavon’s commissioned work “American Varietal” in Washington, DC’s new U.S. Census Bureau building. The installation is part of government efforts to beautify new public buildings. Salavon created the mural using 3D software to artistically represent county population increases and decreases from 1790 through 2000.

The light box interior is void of any interior support to provide an even field of light for the 15 translucent panels that make up the mural. The mural itself is laminated between layers of a polyester resin. The light box’s steel support frame, one of the largest single steel projects CSSI has done to date, created its own challenge because it had to “float” off the floor, supported by two columns 30 feet apart. CSSI worked with Salavon’s engineer to manufacture the structure to handle the cantilever of the art and span the distance between the columns—no easy feat because the structure with art work weighs approximately 10,000 pounds.

Salavon said that he chose to work with Chicago Scenic on this project because he hit it off with Project Manager Ross Hamilton and he was impressed with the company’s facility and capabilities. Salavon was pleased with how the project turned out. He said, “Because of the complexity and size and how we nailed it (the finished product looks almost identical to pre-visualization renderings), people are inordinately pleased.”