St. Luke’s Hospital was developing a new children’s clinic in downtown Boise, Idaho, with the goal of creating a fully branded environment that felt cohesive, modern, and welcoming to kids. Each floor of the hospital featured distinct colours and animal themes, which were extended to the exterior of the building. An iconic image of two trees also became a recurring motif throughout the facility.
I transformed these concepts into tangible structures, creating five animal sculptures and a large set of trees surrounding the children’s hospital. For the welding and fabrication, I collaborated with the talented Ken McCall of McCall Studios.
Initially, I was uncertain whether I could produce the geometric animal designs digitally and convert them into production files. To test this, I built a 1:1 scale fox model using paper cut on a laser cutter. Once I confirmed that the method was viable, I developed a streamlined process for fabricating the large sculptures out of aluminum. The largest animal, a bear, measures an impressive 25 feet long and 15 feet tall, standing proudly at the entrance of the five-story children’s clinic.
For the 67-foot tree sculpture on the side of the hospital, I created the 3D CAD model while collaborating with a skilled team to bring it to life. I exported all the necessary components—aluminum, steel, and acrylic—to steel shops and CNC routers across the Northwest for fabrication, which were then shipped to Boise.
The two trees consist of over 2,000 individual pieces. After welding them into manageable sections, Ken and I dry-fitted the sculptures in McCall Studio’s parking lot. Once painted, they were staged in the garage of St. Luke’s. With the help of a crane and two steel workers, the installation of the trees and all the animal sculptures was successfully completed in just three days over a long weekend.