Back in August 2019, Los Angeles– and Berlin-based artist Tekena Koko staged an exhibition at his Los Angeles studio showcasing an installation of Simpson Strong-Tie Strong –Wall shearwalls.  

The art exhibition was called Highly Value Engineered (HVE) and included several of our Steel Strong-Wall Shearwalls®, along with a stack of connectors.  

The HVE project sought to highlight the elusive or fleeting beauty of construction readymades situated between the intersection of architecture, construction and art.

The objects were exhibited to architects, designers and fabricators at Tekena Koko’s studioko. Tekena is a Los Angeles–based artist and educator. Here is how he described the motivations behind his installation:  

The collection of objects in Highly Value Engineered occupy the space between architecture, sculpture, and decoration. The project emerged from an obsession over a failed lobby remodel overburdened by value engineering (VE), the formal term for “cost- cutting” in the AEC (Architecture Engineering and Construction) industry. In construing cheapness to include mass-produced construction readymades, the project speculates on the viability of architecture within an arena of frugality and minimal means. These estranged readymades undergo dissident procedures that override technical use-value in place of seeking an elusive beauty and other immaterial peculiarities they may possess. 

The artist hopes to stir your imagination with this exhibit of lateral shear walls and connectors. From melancholic introspection to a sense of spatial absence, the display invites as many responses and interpretations as there are viewers. Enjoy the installation images below.