Tying Time
Location: Partnership Tower | Houston, TX
Year: 2016
Artist: RE:Site
Design & Fabrication Consultant: Protolab Architects
Fabrication & Installation: HTXMade
“In the 1913 book, “Houston: Where Seventeen Railroads Meet the Sea,” Jerome H. Farbar described Houston as the railroad center of the Southwest, with seventeen railroads entering the city and making their terminus. The train has been featured in the seal of Houston since 1840. This symbol celebrates Houston's historical role as the largest railroad center and deep-water port combined in the South.
Our proposal celebrates this history, repurposing railroad ties into a mural relief. Repurposed railroad ties are imbued with the “memory” of its former context through an art-making process. Connecting the past and present of Houston, the work uses modern fabrication techniques on traditional, repurposed materials.
Tying Time is a play on words that evokes the act of creating a bond or connection as well as railroad ties. The piece features a mural relief composed of repurposed railroad ties, Viewed from the side, the work reveals the textural grain. Using digital design techniques the historical image is parametrically generated. “ (RE:Site)