Spinal Column
Client: Waterloo Region
Date: 2018
Designer: Two Smiths
Location: GRH ION Station, Kitchener, ON
Materials: Forged train track, mild steel
Engineer: MTE
Scope of the Project: Design concept, construction and engineering drawings, forging, fabrication, installation
Link to a short video by The Record’s Mathew McCarthy about the Community Forging Event we held :
Concept
The spinal column serves as a metaphor for the Light Rail Transit system. Forged out of a piece of the track the ION rides along, it also points to the fact that manufacturing was the backbone of the economy that facilitated growth in this area.
Waterloo Region has a long history of manufacturing: Kaufmann Rubber Plant, Rumple Felt, Arrow Shirt Factory, Dominion Tire, Budd Automotive etc. and the architectural landscape that developed in the Region was heavily influenced by this rich history .
Transformation
Current urban development projects are focused on repurposing these factory buildings for both commercial and residential use. We’ve pinched the track so it curves around on itself. Then we cut slices of it and forged those into bones.
