Public Art - Table of Contents ................................... Silo City - Table of Contents

Rigidized Metals Corp. - Sculptures
658 Ohio Street, Buffalo, NY
Rigidized Metals - Table of Contents

On this page, below:

"Project 2XmT"

"Energy Weave"

"Cascade"


"Project 2XmT"
Sculptors: Chris Romano and Nick Bruscia
UB architecture faculty members Nick Bruscia and Chris Romano commute two or three days a week to a studio in an awe-inspiring location: Silo City...

Their latest project: A 20-foot-high trapezoidal wall woven together from 152 pieces of super-thin steel. Each metal panel has been folded into one of 44 different shapes, and the geometric patchwork gives the sculpture a kaleidoscopic feel.

It’s special in part because it will be crafted from an ultra-thin, strong and light-weight stainless steel. The material was manufactured and fabricated by Buffalo’s Rigidized Metals Corporation, which embosses metal with various geometric patterns to make it more durable and attractive.

Rigidized Metals funded the wall’s construction, and company owner Rick Smith has been keenly interested in the architects’ work in exploring new uses for the firm’s materials. The School of Architecture and Planning, meanwhile, has benefited from the company’s ability to bend and fold metal in ways that the school cannot do on its own.

- Charlotte Hsu, Sculpture of folded steel rises in the shadow of Buffalo’s grain elevators Pub. on UB Reporter, August 29, 2013
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about the structure, a particularly alluring architectural experiment, is the fact that it lacks any heavy steel supports. That’s because sheets of metal used to build the wall have been “rigidized,” or embossed with patterns that can imbue the material, Wolverine-like, with more than twice its original strength and resistance.

 A 20-foot-tall structure made of sheets a little thicker than a piece of construction paper can stand up against gravity, and against Buffalo’s harsh elements, all by itself.

[CEO Rick] Smith said that the way the wall experiments with the material could open up an entirely new way of thinking about potential uses for his company’s products.

“With the folding and the geometric design, to withstand and become structure, that’s the big leap forward,” he said. “That’s why it’s really important for us to think about these things.”

- Colin Dabkowski, A new metal wall rises against the concrete backdrop of Silo City  Pub. on The Buffalo News on September 13, 2013

"Project 2XmT"





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“Energy Weave”
Sculptor: Larry Griffis III
The towering structure, called “Energy Weave,” was commissioned by CEO Rick Smith, designed by Larry Griffis III and placed at the site of the company’s new 20,000 square foot expansion.

Smith hired well-known sculptor Griffis to design the piece. As it stands, the piece is 80 feet long and climbs to more than 40 feet high — the largest sculpture in Western New York. The structure is made almost completely of Rigidized metal formed into leaf-like pieces and arranged in a curvy pattern, which according to Griffis is meant to capture the sun’s rays.

He [Griffis] also praised Ed Hogle and his EB Atlas Steel Corporation, who rolled and bent the Rigidized-made metal to Griffis’ specifications. 

- David Steele, Rigidized Metals Unveils WNY’s Largest Sculpture  Pub. on Buffalo Rising, June 6, 2009

“Energy Weave”
























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"Cascade"
Designed by Roger Schroeder and fabricated by the Rigidized Metals fabrication team.; installed by Scanlon Erectors.















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Photos and their arrangement © 2015 Chuck LaChiusa
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