Monica Brewster Evening: Shayne Gooch

Shayne Gooch is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Canterbury and Director of Hales and Gooch Limited (Christchurch, New Zealand and Chicago, USA).

Shayne’s research interests include engineering design, design for people with tetraplegia, design of flexible vibrating structures and intellectual property. Shayne has been responsible for senior year undergraduate engineering design teaching at Canterbury University for the past twenty years.

Shayne has been working with the Len Lye Foundation on the design of Lye’s sculptures since 1996. His first project was to build and commission Big Blade (2001) as part of a PhD study in mechanical engineering. Since then Shayne has collaborated with John Matthews and Evan Webb at the Len Lye Foundation to supervise numerous research projects involving Len Lye sculptures at the University of Canterbury.

Shayne will talk about the interactions between art and engineering required to evolve new artworks. Len Lye’s sculptures are complex in their movement and sound. The practical implications of building the artworks are very challenging from an engineering perspective. The process involves interpreting artistic objectives and establishing engineering specifications. Novel research in mathematics and physics have been critical to ensuring that the artworks perform as Len Lye intended.