Great Chicago Fire Festival

CLIENT. Redmoon
ROLE. Technical Director / Construction Manager
SCOPE. $200K | theatrical event

The Great Chicago Fire Festival (2015) was a day-long celebration of the rebuilding of our city after the fire. A day of performances and community activities culminated in a theatrical show involving large-scale spectacle objects and pyrotechnics. I managed a crew of fabricators and artists to produce these mechanical and performance obejcts.

As technical director, I was responsible for project schedule, budget, technical detailing, and coordination with Redmoon Theater's creative leadership, as well as procurement of materials and daily management of the fabrication crew. To interface with the performance and creative vision, the build team provided protypes for rehearsals and adapted to feedback in real time.

Occurred Summer 2015

Similiar Projects:
 Artscape 2016 - Celestial Light
Redmoon Events

  • We performed mulitple burn tests for the fabrication of the 'Grit' house to ensure a safe and effective ignition
  • ...and designed a counterweight system to ensure that it collapsed in a controlled manner.
  • The 'resilient skyline' featuring cnc'ed stainless steel panels
  • Grit house prototype wall, detailed to encourage a chimney effect and collapse at a weak knee connection
  • Resilient skyline rehearsal
  • Pre-manufactured resilient skyline panels manufactured by Zahner Metals, designed by local Chicago architects
  • Entry archway was fabricated to be dissassembled into modules for transport and quickly reassembled on site.
  • On-site installation
  • The only way to move a shipping container, our on-site toolbox