Calgary 7th Avenue Pedestrian Zone: Public Art Project

A. Public Art Goal
The public art goal of the Calgary Transportation department is to enhance the civic environment and enrich the lives of residents and visitors while maintaining functional, safe and durable structures.

The overall goal for public art for the 7th Avenue Transit Corridor is to heighten the pedestrian experience along the corridor, engaging walkers and riders at various points throughout their journey, making the experience of being in and moving through the corridor a stimulating and enticing experience of passage and discovery.

B. Public Art Objectives The overall public art objectives for the 7th Avenue LRT Corridor Pedestrian Pathway Public Art Project are:

• Add colour, light and texture to the visual experience of the corridor.
• Create an experiential path of movement for the pedestrian that flows from one end of the corridor to the other
• Create projects that stress both the individuality of each CTrain station as well as the visual and functional continuity of the entire corridor.
• Draw upon inspiration from the site’s past, present and future, as well as the concepts of time and movement.

C. Public Art Opportunities—7th Avenue Pathway Zone
Project Context
The new station designs for the 7th Avenue Transit Corridor will help create a more continuous experience for pedestrians by integrating the elevated station platforms with the ground plane through the use of gradual ramps and landings that merge directly into the edges of the buildings.

The effect will be to create an undulating and continuous pedestrian topography along the outer edge of the corridor. A zone of pedestrian movement will be created that moves parallel to the corridor, but is more random and at a slower speed than the precisely choreographed linear surface movement of the trains in the centre of 7th Avenue.

The new station designs, particularly the gracefully arcing transparent canopies will create a rhythm of lightness, grace and order that allow for moments of pause within the intensity of movement and activity of the corridor.

The notion of time is embedded in the choreographed movement of transit vehicles and cyclical pedestrian activity along 7th Avenue. The sense of time in the here-and-now is enriched by 7th Avenue’s rich history; it was the once-notable ‘street of churches’ and the original route of the annual Calgary Stampede Parade. Plans for an exciting future for 7th Avenue anticipate a reincarnation into a strong, anchoring spine that connects important cultural, corporate, civic and retail elements in the downtown core. 7th Avenue encapsulates the ongoing narrative moving from the city?s past to its future. The Pathway Zone project will be one of several art initiatives undertaken and it should impact the aesthetic of the entire corridor. Another substantial public art component of the corridor will be the commissioning of up to nine additional artists to create artwork in the vault surrounding the station canopies. Additional temporary and permanent projects are also being planned for installation along the 7th Avenue corridor.

The City seeks an artist to articulate the pedestrian pathway zone on the outer edge of the corridor/station platforms with texture, pattern, colour and even, perhaps, light. The continuous pedestrian element would draw on the surface topography created by the new station designs, creating a strong artistic statement that would heighten the identity of the corridor while reflecting the diversity and differences of spaces and experiences along the corridor.

The pedestrian pathway could also incorporate three-dimensional forms at corners and edges where there is space, by rising out of the ground to become sculptural elements continuous with the ground surface.

Consideration could be given to treating the platforms as a “series” whereby each platform is unique but is connected somehow to the overall aesthetic. Preliminary conversations with the project design team indicate that there are several approaches that artists could take to integrate color, light or other elements into the walking surface.

Public Art Considerations

• Limited room for stand-alone artwork on the platform due to volume of pedestrians and mandatory Transit equipment.
• Infrastructure has already been designed.
• Durability and public safety.
• Mitigating any distractions to vehicular traffic that may be posed by public artwork.
• Minimizing future maintenance requirements and costs.

More Information:
Project Website
[email protected]