displays up and running

5forty design and Lyall Design Architects had been trying for about a year and a half to find a project to collaborate on and Lyall finally came up with the perfect opportunity. These display panels for Lockheed Martin needed to be designed, fabricated, and installed within 4 weeks. After getting the go-ahead and drawings from Lyall, it took about 3 weeks to design and build fixtures, weld the frames and posts, have aluminum skins laser cut, and get everything powder coated and then installed. The system consists of 2 units made up of 4 7′x7′ panels each. The panels are attached to hinges on the center posts so that they can be rotated through 180 degrees and each panel has a flat screen monitor on the outside, and a laptop controller stowed on the inside. The frames and skins of the panels are all aluminum. The skins are held on with nearly 700 button cap screws. The center posts are welded steel tube and plate and have bronze bearings on the hinges.

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This fountain was designed and fabricated for Woods Financial in Chesapeake, VA.  The 3″ diameter turned aluminum tubes fill with water that then cascades down their sides giving just the right amount of noise, with minimal splashing. The uplighting from the submersible lights is refracted by the ripples and creates mesmerizing patterns on the walls and ceiling of the room. The African mahogany and aluminum basin ties the design into the existing decor.

The completed fountain

This acacia desk was recently completed and has been gracing the 5forty storefront. It has a very unobtrusive steel frame that really shows off the solid wood top. The slab is 4″ thick making for a very sturdy and hefty desk!

Dimensions: 78.5″x33″x31″

Weight: Approximately 300lbs

Price: $2,300

Originally developed solely as a means to secure firearms for another on-going project, the Peg-Lock system has proven to be far more versatile than we imagined. The pegs lock into the blister board with a quarter turn and each peg can support 30lbs. The boards can be screwed, glued, or riveted to just about any surface without framing, shimming, or furring. The best part is, the pegs stay put when you remove the object that they were holding! To keep production costs down, the pegs were designed in two parts to avoid undercuts. Peg-Lock is now in production and can be ordered from JKM Associates.

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5forty intern Dani Gershon designed and built this end table as her summer project. It has a solid acacia top, a welded and powder coated steel frame, and a frosted glass surface below.

5forty designed, assembled, and installed this wall art for an aviation consultancy in Northern Virginia. The design is based on the FAA airport diagram for Reagan National Airport in Arlington, VA. The client wanted a piece that was sufficiently abstract to not be instantly recognizable as being aviation related.  The transparent backing is made of Glass Green acrylic CNC routed and flame polished by Norva PLastics in Norfolk. The steel for the runways and terminal buildings was laser cut by Advanced Machine and Tooling in Virginia Beach. 5forty then patinated the steel and put it all together.

More pictures after the break.

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The MB kitchen table is now complete and has been delivered.

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One year ago, the Foof Queens (Rocky, LuAnn, and Betty) came to 5forty design for help designing a new product. The Gift Gloss dispenser is the result of that collaboration. It is perfectly suited to their creative gifting style. More can be found on their website www.foofqueens.com which goes live Wednesday, August 19. Below and after the break are pictures of the ideation process, some renderings of an early version in various color schemes (including the glorious Maroon and Orange), and some pictures of one of the first production pieces.

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