Cosmos 1

Mitzi Cunliffe designed Cosmos 1, a group of sculptural wall panels, for Owen’s Park Tower, the University of Manchester’s hall of residence which opened in 1966.

Cosmos 1 Front East by orangepepper on Sketchfab

There are 4 Cosmos 1 panels at the front of the tower and 5 at the back, though here, the central 3 form a continuous sequence.

Each ’tile’ unit is 12″x12″. 8 of the 9 panels stand 12′ high, with the exception being the central back panel, which is 5′ high and 23′ long.

Four of the panels are almost square, containing 11×12 “tile” designs, though some symbols are now missing or damaged, as the model below illustrates.

Cosmos 1 Back West by ursula-msc on Sketchfab

Two of these ‘almost square’ panels were easiest to photograph and model as they had no obstructions around them.

The larger panels are trickier to photograph; they require more photographs to cover their area. RealityCapture was unable to align some of the groups of photographs, presumably due to orientation problems arising out of the surface repetition. I may have to add additional markers in future. The larger panels are also broken up by grills/windows/doors or have pipes emerging from them, so aesthetically, the resulting models can be less pleasing!

Cosmos 1 Back Mid West by ursulackah on Sketchfab

(I currently have three different personal Sketchfab accounts because the free option allows only 1 upload per month.)

More information about the print shown at the top of the post can be found here: https://uackahmsc.wordpress.com/2020/11/22/cosmos-1-panel-for-print/