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The reptilian “Pier 865” is the work of Marc Fornes / THEVERYMANY.
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Photo by Steve Kroodsma. All images courtesy of Marc Fornes / THEVERYMANY, shared with permission
A Sculpture Made of Tens of Thousands of Aluminum Facets Writhes in a Knoxville Park
November 25, 2025
ArtDesign
Kate Mothes
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A vibrant new pavilion rises to meet the square’s picturesque trees in Cradle of Country Music Park in Knoxville, Tennessee, connecting the city’s Old Town and its theater district. Made from tens of thousands of individual pieces of painted aluminum, the vivid “Pier 865” provides both a resting place and a vantage point in a reinvigorated public square.
The reptilian sculpture is the work of Marc Fornes / THEVERYMANY, continuing the designer’s interest in high-tech, large-scale installations that involve meticulously assembled elements. Conceived digitally, the structure has a bold, futuristic quality that looks exactly like a 3D model made real—one can imagine its pixel-like pieces puzzling together in a computer program.
Photo by Steve Kroodsma
The pavilion is painted in greenish gradients in a nod to its surrounding trees. “Its organic shape brings to mind different life forms from different angles: from ground level, the sculpture suggests alien flora growing from the concrete—but viewed from the sky, a tensile, reptilian form reveals itself,” a statement says.
See more work by Fornes on his website and Instagram.
Photo by Keith Isaacs
Photo by Steve Kroodsma
Photo by Steve Kroodsma
Photo by Steve Kroodsma
Photo by Keith Isaacs
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Photos by © Younes Bounhar / Doublespace Photography. All images © Marc Fornes / THEVERYMANY, shared with permission
More Than 200,000 Rivets Secure the Ultra-Thin Aluminum Facets of ‘The Orb’ by Marc Fornes
April 2, 2025
ArtDesign
Kate Mothes
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From geometric, white panels riveted together into an undulating sphere, Marc Fornes / THEVERYMANY’s newest public installation invites visitors to immerse themselves in a luminous experience on Google’s Charleston East Campus in California.
Designed as a physical embodiment of innovation and creativity, “The Orb” invites us into a 10-meter-tall, 26-meter-wide labyrinthine form made of ultra-thin aluminum. “Edged yet edgeless, surfaces curve, branch, split, rejoin, and split again,” the studio (previously) says. “This extreme curvature—achieved through cutting-edge computational design—enables the surfaces to be entirely self-supporting despite being just three millimeters thick.”
“The Orb” comprises 6,441 individual components connected with more than 217,000 rivets. During the day, a pattern of holes speckles sunlight across the pavilion and onto the ground. At night, the structure is illuminated, casting deep shadows that contrast the bright details.
Fornes’ mission, hybridizing elements of art and architecture, is to spark “the joy wandering, the joy of marveling.”
Find more on THEVERYMANY website.
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