Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1109293
9 8 P E R S P E C T I V E | M A Y / J U N E 2 0 1 9 Steve spent spring 2016 at Manhattan Beach Studios, working on Iron City's structure, layout and engineering, as well as Set Design elements we planned to incorporate to support the story. These included a walking bridge I'd visualized based on a locale in Guanajuato, where Hugo and Alita could experience a first kiss, as well as the placement of a fountain in a central plaza. I was keen on an area with stone steps in the slum district where kids play Motorball, so the plaza would be an echo of the main arena. These elements became narrative keyframes. After more rounds of pitches, the film was finally greenlit. Steve, Todd and a fleet of top-notch Art Directors and Set Designers tackled Iron City's exterior sets: Ido's Clinic, the Kansas Bar, taqueria, the slum district, the cathedral, Market Street, Ambush Alley, the Kissing Bridge and numerous other buildings. A model in 1/8" scale that fit on a seven- foot by five-foot piece of gator board brought the Iron City we'd imagined to life. Steve and I arrived in Austin on Monday, June 13, 2016. Construction coordinator Bob Carlyle arrived with his foreman, Brent Regan. Austin construction coordinator Joe McCusker completed an extraordinary triad. Days later, the first bolt that would anchor Iron City was set. Iron City footprint: 175-feet by 350-feet, 61,250 square feet. June 17, 2016: first bolts go into the tarmac at Troublemaker Studios. June 19, 2016: first steel vertical goes up. Six-by-six-inch steel tube framed in the facades. Wind load was rated to ninety mph. Survey lines on the tarmac revealed a thirty- inch grade change. These real-life variations added topographic authenticity, especially at Ido's Clinic. A forest of 214 twenty-four-foot high steel verticals revealed the road ahead. The construction dance went something like this: Anchor brass work points. Layout survey lines. Mark bolt hole templates for steel verticals. Drill concrete. Erect verticals. Prime. Tie together with upper deck horizontals. Prime. Add forty-five- degree steel supports. Prime. Welders move camp down the tarmac week by week. Build footers. Bring in cement truck. Pour concrete. Erect prebuilt flats. Add foam detail, both hand sculpted and CNC cut. Lathe. Plaster. Paint. Lay out sidewalk forms. Include PVC for mechanical effects to pipe in steam. Allow for drainage. Bring in cement truck. Pour sidewalks. Include all marks for grates, etc. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Meanwhile, nine welders bead balconies, window grates and hardware. The thermometer reads one hundred twenty-two degrees. Fierce crew. Iron City's core pays homage to the old ruins in Panama. We set this neighborhood as if the city grew from it. It's defined by a stone arch at one end and a steel walking bridge at the other. Hues in warm neutrals evoke time's perpetual nudge. It's somber, quiet, in a state of retreat. On one side of this alley is the slum district. Like brash government-funded projects, slum district architecture is geometric and flat. Utilitarian. Hugo 1 4 P E R S P E C T I V E | M A Y / J U N E 2 0 1 9 A B C D A. IRON CITY MODEL ASSEMBLED BY SET DESIGNER MEGAN MONTEMAYOR AND PD STEVE JOYNER. B. SCENIC MIKE ABELMAN PRIMES VERTICALS. ALL 214. C. IDO'S CLINIC: HORIZONTAL BRACES AND FOOTER FORMS. D. CONCRETE FOOTERS. THINGS THAT LOOK EASY, THAT JUST SEEM TO FALL INTO PLACE, COME FROM MONTHS OF 3 A.M. PLANNING AND EPIPHANIES. THE PART NO ONE EVER SEES. E. AMBUSH ALLEY ELEVATIONS BY GREG PAPALIA. F. SLUM DISTRICT SCENIC DETAIL.