Flora Field (completed 2023) is a winning entry for the InSITE STL public art design competition sponsored by the Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis. The project is a digitally designed and fabricated reconsideration of architectural ornament in the form of a 3D-printed terracotta screen wall located in the courtyard of Adler and Sullivan’s iconic Wainwright Building.

The project references multiple elements from the ornamentation of the original building through a process of superimposition and translation into a base unit with a variable geometry that aggregates to produce a textural field with fluctuating forms appearing at multiple scales. The sculpted form of the units and aggregated system create patterns of light and shadow, textural fields, and novel optical effects around the sculpture. The project references Sullivan’s ornamentation while aspiring to engage passersby, instilling a new relationship with this historical building and downtown St. Louis.

Client: Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis
Location: St. Louis, Missouri
Schedule: 2023

Design: Van Dyck Murphy Studio / Kelley Van Dyck Murphy & John Murphy

Size: 10’w x 10’h x 3’d
Media: 3D printed ceramic and steel