Sculpture and Foundation 2

[msquared48]

May have a line on designing the foundation for a new sculpture in a local park. Sounds like it is constructed out of a wide array of structural steel sections. The commissioned artist needs both the sculpture and foundation stamped, and the foundation designed.

The foundation does not concern me, but the sculpture does. I do not have any pictures of the concept yet, but can just imagine the liability of kids climbing on it in a public park - not only for injury to the kids, but the scuplture failing from the load of the children.

Has anyone dealt with a similar circumstance? I will post a sketch of the sculpture when I get it if I feel that it is the issue that I am imagining.

FYI, I don't think that just posting a sign to "Keep Off" will remove the liability as it would be construed by the courts as an unnguarded temptation to the children. To me, it's a sue magnet. Maybe the park department has liability insurance for things like this. However, if they are askling me to stamp the sculpture, I'm not so sure of the extent of the umbrella.

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering

 

[Ron]

Mike,
Have the municipality indemnify you for any claims associated with such use of the sculpture. If the sculpture is intended to be one that would lend itself to children climbing on it and such, then make sure the structure and foundation meet ASTM requirements for playground equipment.

Ron

 

[mudflaps]

Mike, If you're worried take Ron's advice. We had a drunk climb over a 14'-0" high chain link fence at a high school we did years ago, then jumped off the diving board into the empty pool. Darwin Award for sure. The judge threw the law suit out of court, thank God.

Did another project where we supported (like it was flying) a gutted A-4 Skyhawk body over a memorial plaza outside Santa Ana City Hall. The morning after it was dedicated the Fire Department had to rescue a drunk off the top of the thing, 20'-0" above ground. We still don't know how he got up there because we did a pretty good job of making sure it wasn't climbable.

Bottom line - you just can't protect youself against idiots.

Old CA SE

 

[msquared48]

Thanks for the input. I'll see what happens.

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering

 

[jheidt2543]

I've had the opportunity to work with a sculptor on a couple of projects and they turned out to be both interesting and frustrating at the same time.

We engineers tend to be pretty "rectangular" in our thinking and artists are pretty much all over the "coordinate system". The sculptor provided a sketch and a model of what he proposed, I designed a foundation and checked the structure for gravity and wind loads thinking that was it. No, he changed it four times in as many weeks and I revised the calcs four times! All in all, it was a good experiance, artists have a very differnt way of working that was interesting to see first hand. Then we went to the fabricator (this was a 60' tall thing) and he made some additional changes.

The sculptor's solution to keeping kids off his sculptures was to put most of them on pedistals high enough they couldn't be climbed without a ladder. That solution is very site dependant though.

So far, in five years, no incidents (knock on wood!).

 

[vandede427]

I once designed a foundation for a steel sculpture but wasn't required to sign off on the sculpture itself. See if you can get out of it.

 

[MaddEngineer]

I actually had the opportunity to work on the structural design of three sculptures when I was working for a firm as a newbie. The liability issue was never addressed on either of them (over 15yrs ago). One was a laser cut stainless steel sculpture about 20ft tall that was installed in Michigan near the water, another was actually a sculpture that could be walked on in the Guggenheim SoHo and the third was a faux water-tower cast from clear resin that lights up at night (wind exposure).

I think Ron's idea is sound although it may be awkward to approach if you are not working directly for the agency involved.

However, a quick look in my trusty Architect & Engineer Liabilty Law Book, it notes the following may limit your liability.

1) As Ron stated have the owner Indemnify you.
2) The Sculpture may be considered an innovative design "i.e., something that deviates from established doctrine or practice, something that differs from existing forms", "something that has not been sufficiently tested as a completed system or improvement so no track record has been established for it". Innovative designs fall under the common law doctrine of reasonable standard of care, the Design Professional does not have to be infallible or guaranty or insure his design, only be as smart as his peers. The courts don't expect you to fathom every possible scenario.
3) If you do see something that could be dangerous or a hazard you should bring it to the attention of your client, such as sculpture should not be climbed on, etc... possibly put it on your drawings.

 

[MaddEngineer]

Also reiterating jheidt2543 comments, none of the art-to-structure projects made any money, more time went into them then money came out. You have to do them for the glory or for the fun. They are basically portfolio pieces.

 

[frv]

MaddEngineer-

What document contains the language in your penultimate post?

We'll be designing a sculpture in the near future, and I'd like some info on how to cover our rear end.

 

[MaddEngineer]

It is from the Construction Law Library from Aspen Law & Business.

Architect And Engineer Liability: Claims Against Design Professionals (Second Edition), Robert F. Cushman and G. Christian Hedemann, Editors. The book was not cheap but about the same order of magnitude as any engineering reference. It is copyright 1995 (but I purchased it about 5years ago from the publisher and they kept calling and sending me stuff about all sorts of legal books for years)and formerly published by John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

Looking inside the cover inset they also publish another book Design Professional's Handbook of Business and Law, Robert F. Cushman and James C. Dobbs, Editors.

Contact Info for Aspen Law & Business
Aspen Law & Business
A Division of Aspen Piblishers, Inc.
7201 McKinney Circle
Frederick, MD 21701

1-800-234-1660 Customer Service

I'm sure they have a website also. I don't know if this is the de facto reference for A/E Liability but it does give a good overview, but is written more for a lawyer than for a design professional. Aspen gives you a 30-Day Trial Period so you could check out both books and see if they are any use to you.

 

[frv]

Thank You.