Top: Jason Whitney, Tony Berning, Patrick Herron, Daniel Felix, Trushar
Sarang, Jon Noak;
Side standing: Eric Krause, Sam Poutasse; Sitting: Joon Choe, Polly D'Avignon,
Andy Iles, Alex Torres.
Taking picture: Kai-How Farh
Credits_____________________________________________________________________
The idea for the Rook Project was conceived by Kai-How Farh and Tony
Berning.
Design and Construction by Tony Berning, Joon Choe, Kai-How Farh, Daniel
Felix, Alex Torres, and Trushar Sarang.
** Special thanks to the Jones's people who helped us hoist the rook
onto the statue. email the web master to insert your names if you
desire.
** Also, thanks to Marc Russo (the car), Randy Letness (showing up),
Joe Blocher (tools), Tom Miller (tools), & Johnny Wallace (tools).
Material to use would probably be paper mache and some sort of wire support.
After more planning we, trash the paper mache idea; we decide to use garbage bags and duct tape from the inside. The rook will be weather proof, faster to assemble, and won't need drying.
We collect all other supplies, such as rope, wooden planks, and pliers and store them in a car....
All is ready for tonight.
Alex Torres on the outside, Daniel Felix bending wires on the
inside.
The height estimate of the final rook remains at about 10 feet tall. We then construct the second tier of the rook. Twist tie the two frames together and test its sturdiness. The rook looks like a giant cylinder cage:
Alex Torres bending down, Daniel Felix in red, Tony Berning supporting
large base.
The third phase is to build the crown, which is made out of another 25ft long piece of welded metal. This piece is slightly larger and is expected to fit over the rook like a hat:
Trushar Sarang, left, Joon Choe, right measuring metal strips for the
crown.
We finished the supports for the crown and try to lay it on the cylinder. We notice too much wobble and decide to support the structure with a clothesline. Below is the constructed frame for the crown and the cylinder base. The plastic covering is also taped on and ready to go...
The crown needed extra string supports. The cylinder base
is nearly done!
After wrapping the crown with plastic and securing it to the base with twist ties, the rook is done at around 0530 (only 3.5 hours to construct the rook:
From left to right: Joon Choe, Daniel Felix, and Kai-How Farh
Now we paint our necessary chess slogans and then get the rook on Willy before classes start! We carry the rook to the statue and pause for a moment to bask in our glory:
Kai-How Farh sitting next to willy, then left to right: Trushar Sarang,
Joon Choe, Alex Torres, & Daniel Felix.
Now, how do we get it up there? It seems that our structure is a little bit taller than we anticipated. Therefore, Kai-How goes to Jones College to get some friends to help. He comes back with what you can consider a small army for being awake at 0600 at Rice. With their help, we are able to hoist the structure over Willy's head and conclude the Rook Project. This is what the rook looks like:
Lonely rook.
Another picture:
The rook with friends.
One final look:
The front and the back.
Last updated: March 22, 2000