Public Art
While our design engineers and construction teams have been busy designing and building our roads and bridges, there has been another team of professionals quietly working behind the scenes on other aspects of the project. The public art team, lead by artist Anne Neil, has been working on what could arguably be considered the most visible and memorable parts of the project – public art.
Authorities charged with delivering major infrastructure projects in Australia and overseas are increasingly becoming conscious of the need to provide various forms of soft relief or “character” to the sometimes hard and cold structural components of their projects. Various methods of “softening” hard structures through the use of imaginative landscaping and the creation of interesting visual forms and shapes are becoming popular as a way of providing the finishing touches and creating a form of “wow appeal”. Our public art strategy is based on exactly this brief.
The dedicated team of artists have already produced some remarkable results and are developing further innovative and iconic works that will capture and portray the public theme of this project.
Their work to date is most noticeable at the Pinjarra interchange site where the team has created a design achieved by casting embossed, random-shaped patterns in the reinforced concrete north abutment walls. These patterns represent the random nature of rippling and flowing water, a theme that will be carried through to other bridges. Once painted, the finished artwork will set these bridges apart and create a point of focus and interest for the community and road users.
Similar concepts are being implemented for the freeway overpass bridges at Safety Bay Road, Road A and Lakes Road interchange. In each case, the theme of water, expressed in different ways and with different colours, will create visual interest and a sense of individuality to each bridge.
Preparing the artwork off site.
The reinforced concrete north abutment walls at the Pinjarra interchange.
Artwork on the Lakes Road bridge.
Artwork patterns use to cast in the reinforced concrete.
Public artwork up close.
The beginning of artwork on the Road A bridge.