Hot Dog in The City

When my boss Jonathan Epstein approached me and said we have a meeting about the world’s largest hotdog I thought it was going to be about some kind of movie prop we were going to me making. Little did I know the owners of the Factory NYC Paul Outlaw and Louie Hinnen were seeking to break the world’s largest hotdog sculpture. Right as the meeting began Paul pulled up the Nathan’s hotdog sculpture and sad “that’s the mark”. As we dove further into the meeting about logistics, storage, and build methodology, I realized they were completely serious. It’s moments like these where I really enjoy what I do and my place in this world. Josh Newman, Jonathan Epstein, and I started conjuring up ideas as to exactly make this sculpture. We ultimately landed on an internal box truss that would be cladded with EPS foam and hard coated. Being the lead designer / drafter, it was my responsibility to develop the box truss as well as help Jen Carton 3D model the hot dog profile and shape, she had envisioned. I was also working with Josh to develop engineering drawings to be provided to the structural engineer to be stamped for approval. The design and drafting for this project took about three weeks. It was one of the most unique builds I have ever worked on and could not have asked for a better team.