By Meiling Arounnarath, Staff Writer
CHAPEL HILL -- The
public on Monday will get its first chance to see plans for the artwork
intended for the planned mixed-use development at Parking Lot 5.
Mikyoung Kim, the lead artist and designer, will show the
community what she has in mind for the project. She said her designs will
incorporate water and light into the space.
Kim
will present her ideas at a community meeting at 5 p.m. at the Chapel Hill
Public Library and at the Town Council meeting at 7 p.m.
In
February 2007, the town approved the $75 million condominium-retail project
on the 1.7-acre site now occupied by Parking Lot 5, at the corner of West Franklin and Church streets. Ram Development
Company will build an eight-story condominium tower on the lot. The project
will include 137 condominium units and 161 parking spaces.
Ram
has committed 1 percent of its budget to artwork on the site. Kim's
company, Mikyoung Kim Design, will design the
first art piece, which will be concentrated in a plaza near the corner of
Church and Franklin streets.
A
selection committee will then bring a second artist onto the project as
soon as February.
The
second artist will be free to design and choose the placement of the second
piece of art, but Kim said it would likely be placed along the site's Rosemary Street
frontage.
Kim
said her piece will incorporate water and natural light, based on Chapel Hill's interest in "green" design,
sustainability and reclaimed stormwater. She said
Chapel Hill needs more public gathering
spaces, like plazas and parks.
"It's
based on this whole notion of creating art that focuses on the specifics of
Chapel Hill, and the dynamic changes and the natural systems of Chapel
Hill," she said. "This is a very different type of art project
from all the other art projects done in Chapel Hill.
It's something done in partnership with the developer and is funded by the
developer. It's not funded by the city."
Kim
said she wants to include a fountain that will use stormwater
collected from the condominium tower instead of using water from the town's
water supply. The fountain will operate only when there is enough stormwater available in the system, and will require
only a small amount of water, she said.
"What
we want to do with this plaza and the art piece is to create a place where
multi-generational constituents ... where people of all ages can come to
this place," Kim said. "There's the opportunity to make Church Street
much nicer."
She
envisions the space as a gathering place that will bring in events like
festivals and book fairs that will "bring people into the city,
engaging them into the place."
Her
idea with all her public art projects is to integrate the art into the
space and use the surroundings to incorporate the art.
"I
think it works both ways," Kim said. "I think that with a new
development like this, that the art can actually enliven the space, and
enhance the place. At the same time, this new development can help create
that energy, bringing people to that space. ... For any development to do
that, it involves multiple efforts to create that kind of energy and
space."
Frank
Webb, chairman of the Chapel Hill Public Arts Commission, said he's excited
about the project.
"I'm
familiar with her work in general," Webb said. "Her work is just
breathtaking. It's absolutely fantastic. She creates a more artistic
environment. These are very much things people can walk up to, perhaps walk
over, walk through. [It's] the idea of things people can experience. It's
different from just staring at a piece of art."
He
said he hopes the partnership of private developers funding public art
projects becomes a trend.
"We're talking about a development happening
virtually in the epicenter of Chapel Hill,
where people can go -- an outside spot where people can meet and congregate
in," Webb said. "It will help revitalize Chapel
Hill."
Contact staff writer Meiling
Arounnarath at 932-2004 or meiling.arounnarath AT nando.com.
2008 The Chapel Hill
News
|