“TECOTOSH”

This sculpture is a graphic illustration of four basic engineering principles: tension, compression, torsion, and shear. Its title, “TECOTOSH”, is composed of the first two letters of each of those terms, and its structure is intentionally provocative from an engineering standpoint. “TECOTOSH” creates a gateway to Portland State University and the Maseeh School of Engineering and Computer Science, and provides an enormous gesture toward Lovejoy Fountain, to the east. Like an arbor, it creates a space beneath for sitting. It is highly visible from 4th Avenue, and from inside both adjoining buildings. Lighting is integral, creating a dramatic presence at night. The big curving form of the sculpture provides graceful counterpoint to the surrounding architecture. “TECOTOSH” is animated by the incorporation of laminated dichroic glass playing in the light. Sunlight is projected and reflected from the glass in subtle patterns cast across the landscape and architecture. Daily and seasonal movements of the sun passing through the sculpture create an enormous image of the sculpture like a very abstract sundial. This interaction of structure and light represents the joining of the engineered world with the natural world, science with nature. We understand the behavior of materials, structures, and light, but when they are combined in this way there remains an overriding sense of mystery — appropriate to the fact that engineering at its best is both a science and an art.