‘Around the Bend (This Exit)’ employs statistical information as an organizational strategy towards a transformative image, a composition that morphs from an iconic image of the Omaha city skyline to over 10,000 icons depicting transportation usage in Omaha. From a distance, eastbound drivers on I-80 will see a hazy depiction of the Omaha skyline, a precursor, billboard, or advertisement for their exit onto I-480 North towards downtown Omaha. In closing the gap between image and viewer, the iconographic image of skyline decomposes into the 10,000 representative icons of transportation, with the percentage of each icon type relational to its employment by the people of Omaha. Upon reaching the base, inquisitive drivers and users of the park system will see individual icons ranging in size from one to six inches that represent:

76.7% of Omaha drives alone as a daily mode of transportation

10.5% of Omaha carpools on a daily basis

7.7% of those visiting and returning to Omaha do so by airplane

2.2% of Omaha walk to destinations on a daily basis

1.8% of Omaha employs public transporation as a primary method of transport

0.7% of the people in Omaha use their bikes as a daily method of transportation

Less than 1% of the people in Omaha use rail as a method of travel

Bob Trempe is a professor of architecture and designer focusing on new methods of information visualization and instructional construction,  investigating how resultant emergent information can serve as instruction for architectural production. Thought of as the study of process itself, Bob’s works are typically articulated through the deployment of repetitious systems, exploiting time-based qualities to notate, visualize, and analyze changes-in-state. Time always plays a critical role in these explorations of natural, man-made, and seemingly intangible phenomena as time is the living, breathing dimension of architecture. Toolsets and experimental methodologies of practice are exploited in his work based on the relationships of tool and task. Outputs via planar fabrication, vector-based narrations, and composite imagery are employed as part of the experimentation of process in pipeline.

Examples of his works can be seen through his office Dis-section Architecture and Media Design ( DAMD at www.dis-section.com ) including a winter skating shelter in Winnipeg, Manitoba and furniture design system for Foundation CLU. Bob Trempe’s investigate works have been shown nationally and internationally at venues such as the ACM/SIGGRAPH Art Galleries in San Diego CA and New Orleans LA as well as exhibits such as DrawingOut2010 in Melbourne, Australia and ACADIA.

Bob Trempe is currently an Assistant Professor of Architecture at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. He is also the designer of the banner called ‘Hourglass’ currently on the grain elevator, and made his first trip to Omaha for the Harvest Dinner hosted at the base of the elevator to celebrate the first installation. He is now addicted to Omaha and visits frequently, always by airplane.