Published on : Friday, November 21, 2014
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has installed a new integrated artwork by James Carpenter Design Associates (JCDA), Grimshaw Architects and Arup Associates at the new Fulton Center, which opened on Nov. 10, 2014.
The artwork, “Sky Reflector-Net,” was commissioned by MTA Arts & Design for the new transit and retail hub, which serves 300,000 daily customers on the 2 Subway Line Icon3 Subway Line Icon4 Subway Line Icon5 Subway Line IconA Subway Line IconC Subway Line IconJ Subway Line IconZ Subway Line Icon and R Subway Line Icon lines.
The hub’s artistic centerpiece is designed to bring light into and throughout the facility, creating a unique experience within an indoor space. It also is featured on the cover of “New York’s Underground Art Museum,” a comprehensive book on MTA’s permanent public arts collection that was published on Nov. 11, 2014.
“Sky Reflector-Net” is a tensioned cable-net structure clad in perforated optical-aluminum panels that hangs above Fulton Center’s grand conical atrium. Its design – a 53-foot-diameter glass oculus that encloses the atrium – gives commuters and visitors’ journeys an expansive sense of the change in light over the course of the day and seasons.
“The art within Fulton Center is a key element in creating a renewed sense of place for lower Manhattan. Standing below and looking up at the ever-changing, awe-inspiring ‘Sky Reflector-Net’ is a memorable experience like no other,” said Sandra Bloodworth, director of MTA Arts & Design and a co-author of “New York’s Underground Art Museum.”
Nearly 10,000 stainless steel components, 112 tensioned cables and 224 high-strength rods make up the artwork.
The soaring cable-net is attached to 952 aluminum panels that distribute and reflect sunlight down to Fulton Center’s lowest levels, which house nine subway lines. The artwork combines beauty and function, reduces energy consumption and gives visitors a tangible sense of daylight.
For the project, MTA Arts & Design selected JCDA from more than 300 artists’ portfolio submissions due to the firm’s ability to harness and manipulate light and seamlessly integrate the large sculptural work with the architecture.
The artwork was commissioned in 2004 and was approved for construction in May 2009 following an extended collaboration among JCDA, MTA Arts & Design, Arup Associates and Grimshaw Architects.
James Carpenter, of JCDA, said, “…in the early morning and late afternoon, when the light level is a little lower, the image of the sky becomes particularly present within the atrium while in the middle of the day when the sun angle is higher, the sculpture becomes luminous – the experience is cinematic and constantly engaging. That’s the magic, I think.”
Media reviews and customers have touted the bright, light-filled atmosphere that the artwork gives to a space that is largely focused on underground functions. A commuter who visited the transit hub on opening day told the New York Daily News: “The light pouring in is just incredible. It’s a real modern gem we haven’t seen here. Spatially, it’s like Grand Central.
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“It is extremely gratifying to watch people walk into the space illuminated by the reflective net with looks of amazement on their faces, and then immediately start to take photos of the spectacle of ‘Sky Reflector-Net,’” said Yaling Chen, project manager of MTA Arts & Design.
Source:- MTA Rail
Tags: MTA Arts & Design Installs New Major Public Artwork, MTA Rail
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