094
ART & DESIGN / PROJECT Pictures: Fran Trachta
THE BLUE LAMP
Unity Plaza in San Antonio, Texas, is the largest public art project in the city, linking the headquaters of the police and fire departments together, the two oldest public saftey departments in Texas. Artist Jefre produced a design which empasises the importance of community, while honouring officers who have fallen in the line of duty ‘protecting the grid’.
In 1854 the San Antonio Fire Department comprised of twenty determined men and a lot of buckets. Then named the Ben Milam company after the famous Texan revolution- ary these early firemen fought flames with wooden pails, in a city of 30,000 people, for four years, before the first hand operated fire engine was purchased, making the de- partment one of the most advanced in the American south. Today the San Antonio Fire Department, along with the city’s Police Department which replaced the legendary Texas Rangers in 1875, are the two oldest pubic bodies in the city’s social fabric. To celebrate the recent uniting of the two departments into
one central headquarters facility Unity Pla- za has been created, becoming the largest public art project in San Antonio. Completed by Jefre (Jefre Figueras Manuel) the internationally recognised public artist and landscape architect, who aimed to create a public space where art and urban design came together to transform the en- trance to the city’s Public Safety Headquar- ters, while emphasising the importance of community, the grid of a city’s interconnec- tivity and the role of the police and the fire service in its protection. “With this bold public art project, we are honouring our brave emergency responders with a visible landmark that is both inspiring
and accessible to the public,” said Julián Castro, mayor of San Antonio. The first of three main plaza components is an 18,000 square foot mosaic map of San Antonio, created using GPS coordinates to build a scale map using natural stones that cover the plaza’s walkways, seating walls and planting beds. The map delineates the city down to the San Antonio River, as well as major roadways and interstates. After dark, built-in lighting strips illuminate the network of interstate highways and light the plaza map, creating remarkable views from above.
“After visiting numerous police and fire sta- tions it was quite evident that the map of
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150