Movement Music Festival
Stage Panel Production

A large scale fabrication project working with the creative team at Sub Studio and various partners to refine and produce these illuminated dimensional stage panels for the Red Bull Music Stage and Entry Arch at the Movement Music Festival in Detroit, MI. In order to create these abstract cellular structures, an assembly was created consisting of vacuum formed clear PETG “bubbles” trapped and bonded to expanded PVC (Sintra Board) panels. Decorative Sintra Board fins were bonded into CNC-machined grooves reinforced with laser cut acrylic gussets. All elements in the assembly were individually safety wired together.

The completed assembly was secured to the stage truss structure using a standard aluminum stage clump. Each part and panel was engraved with an identification number during the machining process to aid in assembly and final installation by the on-site rigging team. Special attention was placed to the overall weight as well as wind deflection of the panels. This drove the selection of materials and can be seen in the final form through perforations in the backer board. To create the bubbles, a CNC-machined plug was produced in high density urethane (HDU) tooling board. This plug was used in a vacuum thermoforming process to create each bubble. The machining artifacts left on the plug were embraced to create rhythmic organic light refracting patterns in the final thermoformed part. Tool path generation and geometry preparation was done in Rhino/RhinoCAM.

Each panel was unique and hand painted by the Sub Studio team.