April 14, 2010
Fun on the Leahy Mall's famous slide.
The civic heart of Omaha – Gene Leahy Mall – is about to get a bench makeover.
The Omaha Downtown Improvement District (DID), the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, the Omaha Public Art Commission and the City of Omaha have launched Take A Seat, a project that will replace the mall’s original wood benches with “uniquely designed, artistically created and generously donated” seating units.
“Omaha’s architecture and engineering community rose to the challenge to use their expertise and creativity to design, build and donate seating to be placed throughout the mall,” said Joe Gudenrath, DID executive director. Fourteen seating structures are being created by 14 teams:
- The Architectural Offices
- Bahr Vermeer Haecker Architects
- Brian and Andrea Kelly
- Bruce Frasier Architects
- DLR Group
- HDR Landscape Architects
- HDR/DeMarco
- Holland Basham Architects
- Prochaska & Associates
- Randy Brown Architects
- RDG Planning & Design
- Studio 360 Architecture
- Think Tank Design Studio
- Todd Rose Concrete
Site preparations for the seating units will begin next month, and the installation process is set to begin May 17. What do the designs look like? You’ll have to wait until May to find out – a public dedication is tentatively set for Thursday, May 27, at 4:30pm.
For more information about Take A Seat, contact Gudenrath at joe.omahadid@gmail.com or visit www.omahadowntown.org.