Zach Reich

Yale Schwarzman Center Projection


Projected animation displayed at the opening of the Schwarzman Center, Yale’s center for student life.

 Motion Graphics • 3D Design
Sample: A  rendering of a found poem made of inscribed words, phrases, and illustrations by Yale students in Sterling Memorial Library. Poem by Awuor Onguru.


To celebrate the opening of the Schwarzman Center, Yale’s center for student life, the university commissioned a set of projected motion graphics, projected during the center’s opening ceremony.

For this project, I searched Sterling Memorial Library — the main library on campus — for graffiti on desks, bookshelves, and walls. I then recreated the inscriptions I found in Blender, and through texturing and animation, brought the hidden words of students throughout the years to life.

A found poem by Awuor Onguru using the inscriptions accompanied the animation.

Sample: An “E+S” heart inscription found in the library swivels, shines, and scales.
Original inscription
Sample: “Welcome to the Wall of Struggles” found on a wall bounces in and grows toward the viewer.
Original inscription


“What does Yale say when nobody is looking?

This central question has shaped our exploration of this campus’ desire lines. Hundreds of thousands of thoughts go through our minds during our time at this university, and not all of them get said out loud.”

—Yale Schwarzman Center

Sample: “2/22/22 twosday” found on the edge of a desk swivels.
Original inscription
Sample: A set of tally marks slides away from view.
Original inscription


“Carved into the very walls of this institution, however, are our most intimate thoughts and feelings about ourselves, each other, and our place in the world. Through the collaboration of found poetry and typography, we present to you a living document of the notes, scribbles and conversations we have with each other through the writing on the furniture of the Sterling Memorial Library Stacks: a place where anonymous thoughts have become a collective institutional memory.”

— Yale Schwarzman Center

Projection in situ: “Life Goes On”


The projection accompanied the opening ceremony of Yale Schwarzman Center and played on loop for a month afterward.

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