5 Giant Public Art Installations Deliver Form and Function
Giant public art installations deliver form and function.
1. Firm: Marc Fornes/TheVeryMany
Project: Marquise
Site: El Paso
Standout: At the entrance to the Westside Natatorium public pool, over 500 undulating aluminum shingles in a desert-water palette are punctuated by a pair of cast-in-place concrete elements, providing shade, shelter, and seating.
2. Artist: Ernesto Neto
Project: GaiaMotherTree
Site: Zurich
Standout: Temporarily occupying Switzerland’s largest train station, some 30,000 feet of hand-knotted cotton strips spanning the site’s 65-foot height created a lounge, its perimeter secured by the sculptor’s signature spice-filled sacks.
3. Firms: Nicolas Buffe; Clavel Arquitectos; J.Mayer.H und Partner, Architekten; K/R Architect; and WORKac
Project: Museum Garage
Site: Miami
Standout: K/R’s co-founder Terence Riley masterminded this ambitious Design District project, commissioning architects and an artist to wrap the seven-story cast-concrete structure housing 800 cars in museum-worthy facades.
4. Firm: Moriyuki Ochiai Architects
Project: Constellation of Stargazing Tea Rooms
Site: Bisei, Japan
Standout: At night, astronomy enthusiasts revel in this galaxy of painted larch-plywood volumes fitted with polygonal apertures; by day, it’s a stellar setting for performances, child’s play, and of course tea.
5. Firm: Belzberg Architects and Tommii Lim
Project: Firm’s own office murals
Site: Los Angeles
Standout: Hagy Belzberg–led architects and artist collaborated on four hand-painted murals that employ precision and forced perspective to create the illusion of projected images, giving the studio major street presence—and cred.
