Design Notes
July 01, 2008
Plaza Construction Begins
The plaza is in play.
Construction has begun on the Pedestrian Bridge Plaza – the riverfront area on the Omaha side of the Missouri River. The project, featured in the inaugural edition of the Omaha Catalogue of Urban Design Philanthropy, has met its private fund-raising goal of $1.8 million. Sure to become popular with tourists and locals, the plaza will feature an interactive water plaza, a unique public art sculpture and a play area designed to educate children about the Missouri River environment.
Larry Foster, administrator for the City of Omaha Department of Parks, Recreation and Public Property,
ticked off the following activity list:
- The utilities have been trenched into the site for the water features, and the rough-ins for the main plaza’s water features are under way.
- The fiber wave art display, created by artist and architect Makoto Sei Watanabe, is set to arrive from Japan in mid-to-late July. The display will consist of 150 carbon fiber shafts five meters in height. Installed in ordered rows, the carbon fiber material will allow the individual shafts to wave in the wind, mimicking the graceful movement of grasses stirred by a breeze.
- The concrete plaza for the River Critters play area will be poured in the next two weeks. It will feature climbable sculptures of the pallid sturgeon, the piping plover and the least tern, three of the Missouri River’s endangered species. Individually selected sandstone blocks from Colorado have been delivered and will be used in the seat wall surrounding the River Critters area.
- If the weather cooperates, the walkway from the plaza to the bridge deck will be poured yet this month.
The Omaha Catalogue of Urban Design Philanthropy was published by Omaha by Design and the Omaha Community Foundation in December 2007. For more information, contact Connie Spellman or Sara Boyd at 402.342.3458.
Water Park West
Plans for Omaha’s largest pool are moving forward.
On June 24, the Omaha City Council approved a $284,000 contract for the design of an aquatic park at Zorinsky Lake. The facility, with a planned pool capacity of about 410, is one of four new water parks included in the city’s pool plan established in the 1990s. The first, Miller Park, opened in 1999.
The Omaha Department of Parks, Recreation and Public Property will give the public an opportunity to offer their ideas on potential park amenities. Following the design phase, construction could begin as early as next spring.
For more information about the city’s park system, visit www.ci.omaha.ne.us/parks.
Ride the Swan
Have you been to the mall lately?
If you’re looking for an alternative to shopping away your summer hours, head downtown and look for the giant swan. Heartland Gondolas Inc. is offering swan boat rides through Gene Leahy Mall.
The customized boat, which looks like an enormous version of the birds that call the mall home, made its debut last month during the annual Taste of Omaha celebration.
The swan boat operates Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to sundown and Sunday from 1 to 7 p.m. Passengers load and unload near the slides at the east end of the mall. The cost is $3 for adults and $2 for children younger than 12.
For more information, visit www.heartlandgondolas.com.
Medians with Moxy
When it comes to beautifying medians, no one does it better than the Big Apple.
The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation’s Public Art Program is presenting an exhibition of Jun Kaneko sculptures on the Park Avenue Malls through November 2008. Three of the Omaha-based artist’s largest sculptures, each titled HEAD (2004 to 2007), are currently on view in the landscaped medians at 52nd, 53rd and 54th.
Kaneko has been based in Omaha since 1986. His artwork appears in numerous international and national solo and group exhibitions annually, and is included in more than 70 museum collections.
For more information about the artist, visit www.junkaneko.com.
For more information about the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, visit www.nycgovparks.org.
Mural Unfolding Downtown
The story of Omaha – past, present and future – is gradually unfolding on a mammoth brick wall near 13th and Cass in downtown Omaha.
Philadelphia artist Meg Saligman is creating a 22,000-square-foot mural on the east wall of the Energy Systems Inc. building. The project, titled “Fertile Ground,” is the brainchild of the Peter Kiewit Foundation with help from the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts. The wall is roughly 70 feet tall by 328 feet wide. When finished next spring, it may be one of the largest murals in the United States.
To read more about the project as it develops, visit www.megsaligman.com and click on “Blog/Current Projects.”