The Rolling Ball Web
An Online Compendium of
Rolling Ball Sculptures, Clocks, Etc.
By David M. MacMillan et. al.
Chris Vaulter created The Fairground in 1997 as a part of his final year project at the University College of St. Mark and St. John in Plymouth, England.
Chris writes of The Fairground:
It was designed to be placed in a business centre or public building, and although fairly small at approx 4'x3'x3' it fits the restricted spaces of British buildings. It was designed to be aesthetically pleasing and in a modern style inspired by fairground machines and the Italian Memphis design style of the 80's. It also has an interactive element for the viewer. By pressing the button on top the ball bearings are released and feed into the big wheel powered by a geared down low voltage motor. On its varied route back to the bottom, after being released from the big wheel at the top, it makes electrical contacts ( again low voltage) which set of varied electrical sounds. The sound producing circuits and transformers etc are safely mounted in the base along with speakers. Lighting is via a low voltage neon light fitting in the case. The case was designed to complement the ball run design.
(13 images, approximately 431.8 kilobytes total)
During construction:
Details of the big wheel:
General views:
As installed at the offices of The Western Morning News.
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Detail shots
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One of the influences on The Fairground has been the London Millenium Wheel project.
With the exception of any material noted as being in the public domain, the photos and indicated text of this document are copyright © 1997 by Chris Vaulter and are used with permission. The encoding and the rest of the text are copyright © 1997-1998 by David M. MacMillan.
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Version
1.3, 1998/06/18.
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