International studio Urban Art Projects (UAP) has completed a major art installation thattransforms the streetscape of Albert Street, Brisbane, through the inventive reworking of anexisting multi-story car park into a highly-sustainable, visually compelling art project.The artwork, Landlines, by Jennifer Marchant was developed and crafted in UAP’s studio in Brisbane. Wrapping around three elevations of the car park, the piece is created from 549powder-coated, laser-cut aluminum panels, all 1.2m x 3.6m. Collectively these components ofthe design have been beautifully worked to represent the contours of a map of Cunningham’sGap and the Main Range, Brisbane.
53 Albert Street has been a car park for thirty years. Architects Nettleton Tribe recentlytransformed the structure, retaining the existing nine-level car park and constructing thirteenlevels of office space above. Urban Art Projects in collaboration with Jennifer Marchant werebrought on board to enhance the visual character of the area, giving the development a realpresence on street level.
UAP formed the challenging brief for an integrated artwork that is both uplifting and highlyfunctional. Visually, the artwork acts as a veil that conceals the exterior of an unsightly car park.The flowing lines of aluminum in the installation progressively diminish until only a thread- likeexpression on the northern elevation remains.
While the artwork transforms the architectural identity of the streetscape, it also acts as aninnovative sustainable design solution that significantly improves the project’s environmentalcredentials. The aluminum panels work to naturally ventilate the sub-tropical car park, atechnique which has reduced the building’s carbon omissions considerably and saved the clientmoney by avoiding the use of mechanical ventilation systems.
The inspiration for the design came from the undemocratic nature of most tall buildings,responding to how few people get the chance to take-in the view from the top. By illustratingthe contours of the surrounding landscape, Landlines brings the view from the building downto the street level while also creating a visual pun that depicts a horizontal three dimensionallandscape, applied it to a vertical structure.
Daniel Tobin, Principal of UAP, said, “53 Albert Street illustrates the huge potential valueintegrated artworks can contribute to a project, in this case saving the client money,significantlyreducing the building’s carbon footprint while also enhancing the public realm.
“With this project, we wanted to make visual connections to the surrounding landscapes, whichfirmly route the work within its context and highlight UAP’s belief in site- specific responses topublic art.”