Auraria Campus of Higher Education
Science Building Renovation and Addition
Psyche (the butterfly)
Donald Lipski, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Budget: $190,000
Installated July, 2010
The Auraria Science Building capital construction project coincides with the evolution of the Auraria Master Plan, which defines a vision for campus growth that aspires to build greater connections between the campus and the downtown Denver central business district. The new facility will be a shared Auraria building. The three institutions that occupy this campus are the University of Colorado at Denver, the Metropolitan State College of Denver and the Community College of Denver.
"Psyche" by Donald Lipski from Colorado Creative Industries on Vimeo.
The new four story addition aligns with Speer Boulevard, orienting the building to the city and to spectacular views of the mountains to the west. This building is Leed Gold and provides approximately 324,000 sq. ft. of shared teaching, research, office and classroom space.
To the ancient Greeks, Psyche, which means "the soul", was also the word for butterfly. They thought of the butterfly's life cycle—from caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly—as symbolic of the passage from life to death to resurrection.
The sculpture is titled Psyche (the butterfly) by Donald Lipski. Using test tubes—among the most basic and familiar tools of science suggests the individual cells of the wings. The artist believes that the melding of the butterfly with the test tubes resulted in an inspiring and dramatically beautiful artwork and makes the building a true destination.
The butterfly is 14.5' across, and 10' high. The butterfly has two sets of wings, the top wings and the bottom wings. As the wings are not completely open, and as the bottom wings are open slightly wider, the top wings are each 8' across, and the bottom wings are each 6' across.
The sculpture hangs at an angle of 60º. It is suspended to slowly move in the air currents of the HVAC. A framework creates the idea that the black areas are the "veins" of the wings of a monarch butterfly. This are fabricated out of laser cut steel. The area in between was stretched with a stainless steel grid, from which approximately 10,000 test tubes filled with pigmented acrylic, various shades of transparent orange are attached. The overall appearance is reminiscent of a monumental stained glass window. |
