As a future engineer taking Aesthetic of Design class, one of the first things that came in mind was the Giant Beest, better known as StrandBeest.
Strandbeests are the work of artist and physicist Theo Jansen. He started building them in 1090 and today he is one of the most recognized artists for his work.
Giant Beesta are truly giant standing as big as 6m in length, 5 m in width, 4.7 m in height and weighing 3200 kg. First they were built of wood but today they are built of PVC, bottles and vinyl sheets. Mimicking animals at times, utilizing dynamics, wind and the beautiful scenery as they are mostly tested on beaches, they will fascinate you.
Strandbeests are a dynamic beauty that made me think they are the product of an engineer. However, being burly aesthetic and applicable to the upcycling criteria made me want to better understand its dynamics and hopefully building my own mini dynamic sculpture.
Strandbeests made me realize that engineering can be aesthetic, too.
Here’s a youtube video: Click here
2 Comments. Leave new
This is awesome, I have not seen this before. I was amazed of how fast they moved and all of the intricate dynamics associated with the Strandbeests. I have to say that it took me a while to understand how it worked while watching the video but finally did. I was wondering if this can have other applications that could be used in 3rd world countries. This was an awesome great job.
I hadn’t heard of Strandbeests before, but they look really neat! I’m glad you provided the youtube video, because pictures don’t really show how dynamic they really are. I’m curious to know what inspired Theo to create these structures.