C mpass Rose AUGUST 2020
NASSAU BAY ART SPIRE OFFICIALLY UNVEILED On Thursday, July 16th, the City of Nassau Bay officially unveiled the Nassau Bay art spire, which was created to recognize how ongoing collaboration can benefit businesses, communities, and ultimately the entire region. Texas Representative Dennis Paul, Harris County Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia, the Nassau Bay City Council, and other community leaders joined the ceremony in support of this three-year project that embraces the relationship between NASA Johnson Space Center and the City of Nassau Bay. The art monument is located at the corner of NASA Parkway and Space Center Boulevard. What once was vast farmland has grown tremendously into a vibrant area of aeronautical and space industry businesses, a medical hub, and a large tourism draw – largely due to NASA Johnson Space Center, which served as a catalyst for the expansion in our region today. As many of you know, the City's origin story is centered around developing a community for the professionals that were moving across the country to work at NASA JSC. The success of NASA JSC has led to our Nassau Bay community becoming a thriving hub along NASA Parkway. To that end, the City deliberately installed an infinity light at the top of this spire. The light will shine into the sky as a celebratory beacon for many more years of space exploration and more importantly, partnership. The Nassau Bay art spire was a joint project with NASA's Johnson Space Center, TxDOT, Harris County Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia, Paul Engineering, Inc, SWA Group, NASA Area Management District, and the City of Nassau Bay. We thank all of these groups for bringing this project to life – as partners we can accomplish anything!
Monument Tech Specs For all of our engineers, technical gurus, and inquisitive minds, here are a few technical facts about the art monument: • The main piece of the art monument reaches a height of 53 feet. It is constructed of structural steel and was erected in two pieces. • The monument rests on a 20 foot concrete pedestal. • The monument is close to two tons of galvanized metal supported by over 40 yards of concrete. It is attached in place with 10 helical anchors that go to depths of over 40 feet into the earth. These helical pile anchors, which stretch 40+ feet, have the pulling resistance strength combined of close to 400,000 pounds, making the structure very resistant to winds over 150mph. • Eleven 1-inch thick steel rods pass through the concrete column, which are welded to a one foot thick plate. The entire steel frame is welded to the 1-inch thick plate that has the eleven 1-inch thick steel rods that pass through the concrete support. All eleven rods equal a shear weigh total of over 100,000 pounds. • The structure underbelly is illuminated with full color LED models which can display over 16 million shades of color. These LED models are controlled by a software that allows for annual programming and custom lighting shows. • The structure steel was pieced together in three sections. Each section was sleeved together and welded. Each section was lifted by a 150 foot crane with 50-ton lifting capacity.
