Threshold
A 7.5-metre rolled and perforated aluminium arch, internally illuminated, commissioned as a permanent ceremonial threshold for a private garden in the Macedon Ranges. This dashboard is the single source of truth for the commission — every downstream section derives from it.
Status
Key Figures
Revision History
Timeline
Deliverables — what the client receives
Where the art stays art
Everything downstream references this section. Form, material, finish, light and fixing are all traceable to a line written here. If a decision cannot be traced back, it does not belong in the commission.
Source Material
Generated
"We wanted a doorway with no house behind it. Something you walk through and are different on the other side."
Artist Statement
Threshold is a doorway to nowhere. It stands in open grass on a ridge in the Macedon Ranges, framing a valley that was already there. Seven and a half metres of rolled aluminium, pierced eleven hundred times, so that the wall of the object is mostly absence — the arch is more air than metal, and the light it holds at dusk is borrowed from the sky behind it.
The perforation is not a pattern. It is a record: the aperture density follows the reading of a single day of light on the site, taken in five-minute intervals from first light to last. Dawn is dense and small; midday opens; evening closes again. Walking beneath it, the shadow you stand in is a drawing of the hours.
It is built to outlive the people who commissioned it. Marine-grade aluminium, mechanically fixed, no welds to fatigue, every fastener reachable. It will chalk, weather and dull. That is the intention.
Internal Design Brief
Story → sketch → manufacture → installation
The bridge between the artistic and the technical. Every engineering decision below exists to serve the narrative, and states which line of the story it answers to. This is the traceable chain — and the part of the system a competitor cannot copy, because it is not generated from the drawing, it is generated from the reason.
Decision Chain
Traceability Matrix
Site analysis
Ridge-top open garden, Macedon Ranges, Victoria. Exposed to prevailing north-westerlies. No overhead structure, no existing lighting, no built context within 40 m. Everything the work does, it does alone.
Captured
Measured
Placement Study
Lighting Analysis
Access Requirements
Installation Risks
Concept development
Hand sketches redrawn to true geometry, tested against proportion, scale and story. Three compositions were carried to scale study; one was taken forward.
Sketchbook & Redraws
Alternative Compositions
Proportion Study
Scale Study — human reference
Story Consistency Check
Manufacturing-ready artwork
The perforation is generated from a site light reading, then validated against the cutting process — minimum bridge, minimum aperture, line thickness, structural continuity. Nothing goes to the laser until every check clears.
Cut Preview — Skin Segment SKN-03
Artwork Metrics
Validation
Open Area Calculation
File Register & Version Control
Component register
Every component. Material, thickness, supplier, finish, mass, lead time and cost — the single register that feeds the bill of materials, the engineering calculations and the quote.
Panel & Plate
Frame & Structure
Lighting
Mounting & Fixings
Packaging
Supplier & Lead Time
Fabrication engineering
Derived, not typed. Mass, centre of gravity, material usage, nesting, cut length, pierce count, bend and roll data, joint locations and tolerances all recalculate from the component register and the artwork.
Mass & Centre of Gravity
Structural Notes
Tolerances
Acceptance criteria. Anything outside these values is a non-conformance and must be reported before finishing.
Sheet Nesting
Material Usage
Cutting Summary
Rolling & Forming
Joint Locations & Method
Live fabrication review
The model is not simply displayed — it is critiqued against fabrication rules, every revision. Change the aperture geometry, the plate thickness or the roll radius and this page re-runs. It is a design review from an experienced fabricator, before the drawing leaves the studio.
Rule Checks
Fabrication Risk
Recommended Design Changes
Fabrication package
Everything a workshop needs to quote and build without calling the studio.
Build Summary
Manufacturing Time
Assembly Sequence
Joining & Fastening Method
Fastener Schedule
Flat Patterns — developed lengths
Individual Parts
Bill of Materials
Fabrication Notes
Quality Control — pre-despatch
Revision Log
Light specification
The arch is not lit. It is a light. A continuous concealed run inside the cavity throws through the perforation and washes the ground beneath — the halo is the work.
Scenario Render
Specification
Performance
Halo & Reflection
Control & Circuit
Maintenance & Life
Scenario Matrix
Finish library
One click. Selecting a finish updates the renders, the specification, the maintenance regime, the lead time and the quote — everywhere, at once.
Metal Finishes
Timber Finishes — plinth & crate detail
Sheen
Applied Preview
Selected Finish
Comparison
Presentation views
Thirteen views, six contexts, five times of day. Drawn to true geometry from the same model that produces the cutting files — the render and the DXF can never disagree.
View
Context
Time
Overlay
Drawing Pack — issued as 2D
The 3D model is for the client. The workshop prints these. All eight sheets are generated from the same geometry and carry the current revision.
Installation package
Fixing design, anchor schedule, sequence, services and access. Written so a builder can programme it and an architect can coordinate it.
Fixing Detail — base to footing
Anchor Schedule
Installation Sequence
Bolt Schedule
Cable Routing
Required Tools
People & Plant
Safety Notes
Wall / Ground Preparation
Maintenance Access
Architect's specification
The document that goes into the project manual. Issue-controlled, self-contained, and explicit about what has been verified and what still requires consultant sign-off.
Compliance & Standards
Warranty
Cleaning & Maintenance
Live cost model
Driven by the component register, the cut length, the nesting result and the finish selection. Change anything upstream and the quote moves with it.
Cost Breakdown
Drivers
Composition
Sensitivity
Threshold
Story, image, material, light, finish, timeline, price. No technical clutter.
A doorway with no house behind it. Seven and a half metres of rolled aluminium, pierced eleven hundred times, holding the last of the light.
Material Palette
Light
Finish Options
Installation Preview
Timeline
Investment
Issue to workshop
Everything they need. Nothing else. Cutting files are generated live from the current geometry — the download below is real, not a placeholder.
Generate Cutting Files
Part Number Register
Package Contents
Packaging & Transport
Every revision, kept
Five years from now this commission can be reopened exactly as it was delivered — the geometry, the finish batch, the LED part numbers, the torque values, the photographs.