Moonrise / Marc Fornes / THEVERYMANY

Architects: Marc Fornes / THEVERYMANY
Photography: Keith Isaacs
Materials: 3-millimeter-thick aluminum structural strips, rivets
City: Chattanooga, Tennessee
Country: United States

Moonrise is a permanent public installation by Marc Fornes / THEVERYMANY at Wheland Foundry Trailhead in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The project takes its name from the moment when the moon appears along the horizon, translating that fleeting celestial event into an immersive civic experience. Designed as a dome-like structure, the work offers visitors a place for gathering, rest, and reflection within an urban park setting. Its organic geometry filters daylight into changing patterns of shadow, creating an atmosphere that shifts throughout the day. The installation is composed of a double-layer shell made from custom-fabricated aluminum structural strips, each only 3 millimeters thick and assembled with rivets. This interlocking system produces a rigid and expansive structure while minimizing material use. Balancing durability, visual impact, and environmental restraint, Moonrise demonstrates how contemporary public art can operate as both a sculptural landmark and an accessible communal space.

Moonrise places a moment of celestial observation into the everyday rhythm of a public park, transforming an ordinary visit into an encounter with scale, light, and collective imagination. Rather than presenting itself only as an object to be viewed, the installation invites the public to enter, pause, and look upward. Its form creates a threshold between landscape and atmosphere, offering a spatial experience that is both intimate and open.

The enduring architectural ambition informs the project of “doing more with less,” a principle associated with Buckminster Fuller’s approach to structural efficiency. THEVERYMANY extends this idea through contemporary computational design and fabrication methods, using digital precision to move beyond the conventional limits of dome construction. The result is a structure that remains materially efficient while gaining a more expressive and organic architectural presence.

Moonrise is built from a double-layer shell composed of custom aluminum strips, each measuring only 3 millimeters thick. Assembled with rivets, the thin elements form an interlocking structural system that achieves strength through accumulation and coordination rather than mass. This method allows the installation to appear almost weightless while maintaining the rigidity required for permanent outdoor work. Its construction reflects the studio’s broader research into lightweight materials, complex geometries, and buildable surface systems.

Within the park, the installation operates at several registers. From a distance, its curved silhouette reads as an urban sculpture, giving Wheland Foundry Trailhead a distinct point of orientation. Up close, the structure becomes more experiential, with layered surfaces shaping views, shadows, and movement. The shifting daylight across its interior encourages a slower mode of engagement, turning the act of passing through the work into a moment of attention.

The lunar reference also connects the project to a wider cultural fascination with exploration and discovery. NASA’s Artemis II mission, launched on April 1, 2026, marked the first crewed flight of the Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft, with the astronauts traveling around the Moon before returning to Earth on April 10, 2026. Moonrise does not illustrate that mission directly, but it shares a related sense of curiosity, using architecture to frame wonder as a public experience.

As a civic installation, Moonrise expands the role of public art in Chattanooga. It offers neither a fixed program nor a singular interpretation, allowing visitors to gather, rest, observe, and imagine in their own ways. Through its combination of thin material, advanced fabrication, and atmospheric presence, the project shows how architectural experimentation can produce spaces that are efficient, durable, and emotionally resonant.