Pangaea

Dimensions: 54″ (h) x 38″ (w) x 38″ (d)

Materials: Carrara marble (continents); prupleheart wood, yellowheart wood, padauk, maple, black walnut, and poplar (ocean); steel (base)

Available: Contact me

Pangaea is a globe depicting an approximation of the supercontinent Pangaea as it would have appeared 270 million years ago. This piece is intended to convey the concept that, at our origin, we are one continent.

The challenge in this piece was mathematical. Each three-dimensional trapezoid represents 15 degrees latitude and longitude. In order to make the pieces form a seamless sphere, each angle is unique and must be cut precisely. The second challenge was to engineer a base that rotates the globe as if it were a clock. There are two settings, one in-which the globe turns one revolution per hour, where each trapezoid represents five minutes, and another that turns the globe one revolution per day, where each trapezoid represents an hour.

Besides these mathematical challenges, other significant challenges included: 1) creation of detachable hemispheres to allow for transportation, 2) attachment of trapezoidal segments on a curved angle, 3) creation of thin and often tiny marble continent pieces, 4) insetting those pieces into the wood of the globe such that they appear to be floating on top of the “ocean”, and 5) making all the blooding angles line up!