Fourth Street Public Art

Fourth Street Underpass (designed with the marc boutin architectural collaborative)
This project site is situated between 8th Avenue and 10th Avenue SW, and is a main gateway and key corridor for pedestrian and vehicle movement between the Beltline and Downtown communities in downtown Calgary. However, the physical state of deterioration of the 4th Street SW underpass is in contradiction to this critical mobility and gateway function.

The design framework for the 4th Street SW Underpass Enhancement Project is a result of hundreds of hours of public engagement, and the result is a design focused on enabling and encouraging pedestrian movement through the provision of a safe and attractive public space.

The design concept is founded on the idea of reclaiming city infrastructure as a ‘space for conversation’. This space of conversation is conceived through the creation of light avatars for each pedestrian that enters the underpass space, enabling the viewer to develop a new consciousness of themselves as actors in this emergent public space. The design leverages a digital infrastructure of recording movement and re-projecting this movement on the two illuminated surfaces that define the underpass walls. As each pedestrian enters the underpass space, they become aware of their presence through the actions of their avatar on the opposite side of the underpass. The creation of animated light and colour, responding to the flow of people through the space, ensures this new space of conversation remains evocative, varied and timeless.