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Downtown Alliance & Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Launch Groundbreaking Public Art Program
The Alliance for Downtown New York and Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) collaborated to create and implement this project to turn Downtown New York construction zones into sites for unexpected and engaging public-art and architecture projects. 'Re:Construction' will help beautify our streets, provide directions to pedestrians, increase foot-traffic and economic activity downtown and alleviate some of the unavoidable impacts caused by these large construction projects. The art and architecture projects will be located at Fulton Street, Broadway and John Street — one of the busiest intersections in the fourth-largest business district in the nation. The projects will utilize construction infrastructure such as Jersey barriers, chain-link fencing and sidewalk shed scaffolding as canvases for art and architecture interventions. The intent is to engage thousands of passersby with surprising and functional designs, technological details that include solar-powered LEDs, and sculptural elements that literally use the city as their setting. The three projects/site selected for the initial phase of "Re:Construction" are:

"Best Pedestrian Route" by GRO Architects PLLC (John Street east from Broadway intersection) - Architecture firm GRO Architects, located in Lower Manhattan, designed and built a freestanding modular pre-fabricated structure to replace the conventional sidewalk shed scaffolding corridor adjacent to the MTA's renovation project of the landmark Corbin Building. The undulating angles of the structure’s surface feature informational supergraphics, and a dappled backlit filigree screen that improves nighttime visibility and safety. The orange, blue, and white colors of the structure are culled from the city of New York’s flag.

"Concrete Jungle" by Tattfoo Tan (Broadway between John and Ann Street/Fulton Street Transit Center) - New York artist Tattfoo Tan's whimsical project puns on the common metaphor "concrete jungle" by morphing the banal orange safety stripes on jersey barriers into brilliantly colored stenciled zebra strips, adding an element of the natural wild to our urban maze.

"Fulton Fence" by Carlos J. Gómez de Llarena, Carolina Cisneros and Mateo Pintó D'Lacoste (Fulton Street Corridor, east of Broadway) - This collaborative of Venezuelan architects and new-media designers blends the functional with the playful using re-purposed construction materials. Accents of orange-and yellow plastic construction meshes, industrial caution lights, customized op-art signage and the chain-link fencing that universally signify construction-in-progress are collaged into a vibrant mural bounding the water main retrofitting on Fulton Street. These treatments are affixed in segments following the 10-foot long section frames of chain-link fencing that currently encircle the construction site.

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http://www.downtownny.com/news?nid=98

http://www.lmcc.net/art/programs/2007.3.27reconstruction/index.html