Piano Bench

This is another project that I built while in architecture school and had access to some fun tools. It’s a scaled-down model rather than a full-sized prototype. The top is made with three layers of plexiglass, each with text laser-etched onto the surface. The font size is largest at the top layer and smallest at the bottom in order to create a type of forced perspective. The text is a collection of quotations from famous composers and librettists from Shakespeare, Strauss, Rossini, Bernstein, etc. that all loosely fall into the same category. They all essentially attempt to answer the question: ‘what is music’. The top layer is devoted to a single quotation from one of my favourite artists, Elton John and Bernie Taupin.

If I were ever to build the real thing, plexiglass isn’t appropriate. It doesn’t have the structural strength, and it scratches easily. I’d use a single sheet of tempered glass, and in order to create the forced perspective effect, rather than etching onto the surface, I’d use the type of laser that focusses two lasers in order to etch where they converge inside the material. The larger text would be etched closer to the top and the smaller text closer to the bottom. I’d also refine the frame and base, and maybe employ some more creative joinery.