DCist: NoMa Plans to Transform Underpasses Into Public Art Spaces
The four underpasses that connect the east and west sides of the NoMa neighborhood are heavily trafficked and rather unremarkable. Like most spaces under a bridge, these areas are dark and uninviting to pedestrians and motorists. The NoMa Parks Foundation wants to change that.
The group announced today that they are seeking an artist, team, designer or architect to transform these four underpasses into “art parks,” which “will beautify, enliven and activate” these spaces. (The foundation may select one artist to do all four or a different artist for each one, according to Carrie Cook from Art 4 Business.) A Request for Qualifications doesn’t specify exactly what the foundation is looking for, leaving the door open for a number of possibilities and ideas.
The District plans to spend nearly half a million dollars on the greening of NoMa, the constantly under-construction neighborhood that is long on new, glassy office towers, but short on recreational space.
Mayor Vince Gray announced $490,000 in public funding for a network of parks to be installed in NoMa over the coming years in a letter earlier this week to Robin-Eve Jasper, the president of the NoMa Business Improvement District. The D.C. funds will go toward developing the BID’s $50 million parks development plan, which envisions filling NoMa with a smattering of postage-stamp-size green spaces to complement the usual sights of construction cranes and corporate buildings.
http://dcist.com/2012/09/noma_gets_490000_from_district_for.php
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