NEW YORK | 56 Leonard St | 821 FT | 57 FLOORS

Who wouldn’t? Even at 90?

Chused. I have not seen this with the naked eye; and I know there are things one can see with the advantage of viewing the conditions in person. I guess this was not a “flawless” installation after all; as your report is surly more accurate than my second hand assessment.

I look forward to seeing this in-person. That ‘funhouse’ mirror affect is unfortunate: but do look forward to seeing it for myself.

Work is going on today and it was easier to see inside. One of the little tractors has in fact been moved into the bean so it may still be used. They are indeed adjusting sections and taking out temporary supports. Also inspected again for dimples. There are even more than I saw the first time around. This certainly will not be a smooth Kapoor sculpture like the Chicago bean. And the seams will certainly be visible as you walk on the sidewalk next to it. Across the street will seem – pun intended – better.

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Taken 10/14/21

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Lots of work going on inside the bean this morning. One of the workmen told me that the last section is scheduled for delivery on October 30. The end is near.

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They should smooth out those imperfections if they want a quality product.

I’ll keep my eye on it over the next week or so. We’ll see what happens.

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Shouldn’t be too much of a job. Just get any orbital sander/buffer and work those joints if they were welded. Like polishing a car.

Not so easy. Joints between sections are not welded. They are held together inside by bolts. It is at some of those spots where the dents are—presumably because of the way the bolts are tightened or the sections mesh together.

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10.21.22

I hope the end product looks nice but as of now you can notice the seams, dents, pockmarks, and even some scuffing on the bottom. They were actively working inside of it today.





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I walked by today as well. I thought some of the defects had been improved. And one of the workmen claimed they are working on getting rid
of the dimples and scratches. We will see.

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I was there the other day and I believe the sections are attached at the seams using a process called “spot welding” . The burn marks along the seams is a sign of spot welding: which is burnished out as a final process. This will have to wait to see what the final results are before anyone can be sure if the craft work is sub-standard. PS - all my photos get rotated when I try to post to Yimby - sorry for the side way view…

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Infoshare. You are correct. I was told spot welding was being used. But the entire seams are not welded top to bottom.

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The last section has been put in place.

But finishing work still needs to be done. There is for example an obvious gap along the right side of the last section.

But the basic shape is now visible across the street.

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Wow, it took them nearly three years to build this. I really wonder what caused the delay other than the pandemic last year

Pandemic was the big one. The other was that working in cold weather is not possible. Metal on metal joints get too brittle. So they had to take time off and then COVID arrived.

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There may be some reason for that gap; in which case this is intentional rather than accidental. I am thinking maybe there needs to be some expansion/contraction space for the metal sections to move; with the addition of some sort of flexible ‘filler’ to be put in at a later date.

In any case: I can just imagine the art installation guys cursing those “nosy Yimby folks” posting photos and commentary about every little imperfection. :rofl:

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I’ve been told by workmen that there will be no gaps when the bean is complete.

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Walked by this morning. They’ve set up a tall fence so it is now difficult to get good pics. But I did notice that the gap by the “keystone” piece was closed. So
i’m guessing most of the remaining work involves adjustments. on the interior. There is a hatch in the back allowing access that is largely hidden from view. The bean should be finished this year.

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https://www.instagram.com/p/CVgdT3qPmUi/?utm_medium=copy_link



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