 Good evening. Thank you all for your time this evening. This is the second public meeting for the schematic design process for the Congress Square redesign and public art Commission. My name is Caitlyn Cameron. I'm the urban designer for the city of Portland and the project manager for this project The other project partners what the project partners for this project are the city of Portland But we also have the public art committee and friends of Congress Square Park And several representatives from those groups are here this evening. I don't know if you want to identify yourselves or not but um, I also want to thank the Weston Hotel for Generously hosting us this evening and also thank you to CTN for filming this evening I'm just gonna go over a couple of Announcements and then we'll get right to the presentation. So Well, I guess the first announcement is that artist Sarah Z is stuck on a plane at the moment So she will be here, but we're sort of Not sure when so it might be Quite late towards the end of the meeting We apologize for that. We're just gonna have to keep you posted about that status We do have someone from her studio here David Ramirez who will present in her place if we get if it comes to that so Just some background information right now the Congress Square project is in the schematic design phase That means at the end of spring We will have design concepts for the square and the public artwork and at that point They'll sort of be a pause in the design process while the project partners begin front fundraising to be able to then implement the project I Just won't have one note that You'll see that we have a roadway layout That we're showing in the design concepts that we've been using for the project But that's still under review and isn't completely finalized and we're working with the main department of transportation and Sibago techniques to To work on that piece of the project But we're not going to focus on the road layout meaning like the traffic patterns the curb and that kind of thing tonight The agenda for this evening first WRT the design team Will present and then we'll have time for questions and feedback and whenever Sarah arrives Then we'll present the public art aspect of the project But we're especially interested in getting feedback and hearing questions from you So we will have time to do that this evening We also have index cards at the back of the room if you feel more comfortable just writing something down You can leave leave it at that table back there and we'll collect them we're also going to post the presentations online and There'll be an online form where you can also give feedback So there are different ways that you can tell us what you think And I'm gonna have the online feedback through the the next month until January 15th We're also gonna be presenting or I'm gonna be presenting The tonight's presentation at many different boards the Parks Commission the Land Bank Commission the Planning Board the Historic Preservation Board so you can also Come to those or if someone you know couldn't make it this evening They could come to one of those presentations as well. Hi everyone How are you guys? We didn't bring in this cold cold weather So I hope it's it's clear that and there are a couple of see they are two in the front side so if there are folks doesn't have the see please have a seat and relax and Kind of go through the presentation And I'm here I'm Kiko Kramer from the dirty design team and I'm here with a miss a chance as well as Patrick cleaner And so we're gonna run through the show at the beginning for the site design Which is we have a public Presentation workshop in back in December October yes, sorry. This is December right now October We have a three days our process engaging to the public and sort of coming up idea with People people actually use the park and that's most important part for our process And we did back then in October coming up some idea to the sketch there Programming and voice and get the all information bring back to for a while And we come up with sort of the in progress scheme to present today And it's still progress and but we want to kind of share the where we are and sort of how we sort of Engage the voice to be taken from the last workshop and hopefully we can get have more voice to hearing today In terms of the vision what we want from this Congress square it needs to be accessible inviting year-round I'm not gonna read through the text But you can see that all these key where we want to capture throughout our process which is not gonna be changed a Quickly a project review Caitlin mentioned earlier in terms of where we are right now You can see we're kind of halfway through this public engagement process The design definitely is not done yet. This is almost like today will be kind of the first Reveal process to show where we are and next checkpoint will be sometime in February And so the city will keep you guys posted when we will be back in that middle of the winter time there and the schematic design Will be completed sometime in the mid-march or the spring as we say and So please do give us any feedback comments you have as we progress the design Quickly to just to kind of remind ourselves as well where it's Congress square and how it relate to the Surrounding neighborhood and the context you see that it's almost like a halfway between the Long fellow square one foot long fellow square and to the modern square and what is this note? the relationship to these two significant open space From October we'll show here will be couple of slides I kind of just want to quickly go through with you guys Because some people might not participate last round So this is some of like a quick summary to capture and what was discussed there We talked about the shade studies how the shade will affect the program usage in the summertime people want to be shaded in No way, but then summer in the winter time people want to get as much as some exposure possible So that can be achieved by the tree canopy or how you laid out a seating in relation to the trees and surrounding buildings And that all can give it a variety of the Different experience within the Congress square here The next one here we look into the pedestrian crossing here really just to identify how many points We have to go through in order to get to from one side to the other side from one side of Congress Street to the other side or the high street here The red arrowhead here really just to indicate the existing condition This many islands between the two sides of the intersection and then so one of our challenges is really how to use this redesign opportunity to make the intersection more for integrated design and to ease and put the pedestrian crossing experience as a priority Another character that we look into actually is the visual character We recognize that they're already so many nice historical architecture for saw surrounding the project site However, the current design already support in order to for people to appreciate what we already have So one of the things that for this redesigned Congress where we wanted to make sure is that you give people a moment That they can stop poles and look out the sky and they realize that there's so many beautiful buildings Surrounding the square and surrounding here So this is to identify some of the opportunity and also you can see from the Western hotel How that wall can in relation to the our museum here Told us The spot elevation or in a way is a how the High elevation changes within the Congress square park or move around the intersection and we recognize it Particularly within the Congress square park. There are some existing steps, which there are definitely boards and cons You give people a sense of protection in a way that you change that protection Also, it's not a sex of all one of the the goal really for this Congress square We wanted to make sure the design is Inclusive it's accessible so that people whether they're on wheelchair on they're pushing the stroller or they are Just little ones jumping around walking around faster than anybody else. We want to make sure everybody use the park in the same Access way some way to me they can enter the park in some way So in a following presentation, you will begin to see how we really try to manipulate the elevation In order to provide the accessible routes here So at the kind of in the before we start to develop the concept sketch during the October workshop We arrived at the three kind of thematic approach here and capture The word that the key words or comments or voice we heard from the workshop Some of the important aspect for the accessibility connectivity and identity Accessibility we want to make sure that the Congress square is a inclusive environment It's they have the better defined pathway for people to move around the space for the connectivity we wanted to see the Congress square as a unified space and You know how to achieve that there's throughout different design components And also that the access point can be more for clearly defined And again in the following presentation you will start to see how that Connectivity start to reveal for the identity. There's a different way really to reinforce the identity of the Congress square In a way the overall Congress square design or the side design is part of to giving that Congress square the identity so throughout the side design throughout the selection of the planting they all be can be part of identity Also another aspect that particularly mentioned is the artwork and also that so that will be kind of shared a bit more In depth from the Z studio in the following presentation here So that this is also from October workshop we arrived to the preliminary concept what what defines a Congress square How people feel like they're arriving Congress square or they're in Congress square So there are two levels of experience as you can see more of the blue outline is where people are arriving in the Congress square For the next level of the light orange here is people feel like they're in Congress square so they're a different way to Kind of acknowledge the sense of arrival But the interesting part of that we just want to kind of pick it up It's that the Congress square is not a square as you can see it's really reached out to you know Different certain so then we shouldn't concern ourselves feel like Congress square is really right at the intersection It's a square there It's really reaching out to the neighborhood and you should recognize the neighborhood different characters and the surrounding environments as well Yeah The sense of reliable so that's going to be tied back into that how we would like to approach Alive of the journey to when comes to in and feel that oh we are in Congress Maybe and then going through it was through Identifying to oh, yes, I mean the Congress square That's sort of the Identifying to how we would like to approach So here is a serious old layer as you probably remember from the last October workshop It's kind of the feeling the onions that we call So that you start to this is really to analyze how people move through the site Definitely, this is not identified every possibility as we joke about people might go old directions either way But we recognize more of the priority how people will move through or around Not only the part but then within the Congress square here and how you started to incorporate the greenery I'm tied to the movement area so that it starts to expand from the movement line and we call it as a green fabric it's Not fabric fabric, but it's part of that urban fabric that we try to type that in and introduce this greenery and a second green node introduce the Congress square as a green node Alone people's movement and the next layer is in terms of how you start to introduce the social pocket or the seating arrangement The tree candlebees and that will dictate kind of in it's together How where you're gonna locate the seat and where the tree candlebees would come see? And so from there We so for tonight really we wanted to make sure that when we're starting to reveal this kind of the baby Instead of the conceptual site plan it means these aspects the circulation the accessibility the space planning and the programs Activities how this space can really the Congress square can accommodate different type of events activities and programs So here is a kind of quick overview of the current concept site plan some critical Some more of the some major Site component here. We call it out in terms of where is possibility that we can store the Site furniture or some equipment both a movie screening and the dance floor, which is number nine there We recognize that there's a need for the people the staff people They have the easy access to store the equipment by same time we want to make sure that that Volume will be part of the site design. So we want to consider that part of the component as early as possible So we are not adding on later on say because we need it and we bring it in We want to make sure it what it is considered throughout the process When you look at this site, there's something missing Something disappear from current site. I don't know if anyone can tell me That was expected Yes, but there's something around here Yes So that's the big things we take up the steps Because we want to provide inclusive accessibility for everyone and Not we just site has the potential already. It doesn't have to have steps So that's a big thing to be Approach how we can play with that means that they manipulate those topography to create the universal approachable space for everyone There will be some snesha just to give you guys a sense of when we talk about that change of elevation so In a way that you probably don't want to think about these are ramps or any like slopes Because as we say it's under 5% it's just a change the surface Now you walk around it sometimes I will could be you know from like a more like a technical talking You will say oh 2% 5% and everything under 5% we will consider it as accessible routes So in a way we kind of use that to mitigate the change of elevation But also that will give you a little bit different like an experience within the park as well Sorry, I saw I was shouting but actually it's not okay So here I think that as take a point out and which is really important in the following presentation You can get a little bit more in that in terms of how people can move around the sites So here just give you an overview and we will go through kind of quickly We start to peel out these just to see the layers of the Site plan we have that's when we come post everything together You always forget about how many things that is piling up in order to compose that one plan You can see like the first one from the very left the roadway Alignment and then on top of it you have the green islands as we call that's how we're the green fabric Blank into the Congress square Also the sitting and space planning and the calorie. So when you put all these layers together it becomes a Congress square and Here we'll start to see the way more for this circulation and accessibility Again, and that that is really almost like the priority We wanted to make sure people move through the Congress square or within the park how people can really enjoy it without going through The steps there as minimal as possible. So the major they can think around really indicate the major movement how people will pass through or go around the Congress square park and Congress square You see a circle there kind of goes to the cafe entrance to the Western hotel That is the only spot that so far we recognize might need steps in order to achieve to get you from the Elevation there up to the stage which is back in the corner there That is where We have a set but in one way is that they get you quickly to get through from one elevation plan to the stage The stage only 30 inch higher than the front open space here So we're not talking about people do you have to hide through like a 10 plus steps So basically the pink line really presenting here is it's accessible wrong But people can go through between a planting and many under and Johnny or straight in straight path And you can just walk through pass and don't even do that just coming into the park or you can come in And walking through so all people I accept that why the at the top for the service access purpose You can access everywhere on the top of the stage or in front of the stage Everyone at the same way here is some snitch out just to give you the sense of how people can move through the sides As you can see that We're talking about if you're gonna get to you know from the time of stress tree turn around Into the residence doorway here that is definitely accessible. There's no rain for service here. There's a change of elevation Pull these down down to come into this flat space But in general as you can see is that we're trying to minimize these steps the use of the steps as much as possible Here's another snitch Shop probably will give you better sense. We you don't have to research a number It's just my make sure we check. So this is the corner This is the hotel where we are right now and they're different Here to there is almost a 40 different, but in between to creating the topography and slow suffering To go and join me to every level without having steps and what it does is those planting fabric is create Many gate of the gap, but the going through in between counting you are able to go down to the district From there Another important text is we want to make sure the site plan can accommodate different type of programs and here It's really we start to identify the activities to be accommodated and what elements can be associated with these activities This is also part of the visioning process the city Conducted years ago. So we want to use it as a guideline since we already heard from the community back then That should be something we should kind of use as a guidance to move forward when we think about how the space can accommodate different kind of activities here We start to so from here just to point out that the activity we heard that these are from the top to down or more from the Most desired to the maybe top five or top four most the desirable one So then here you can see the access to the green space to food and eating performance music or art Events smaller events the first Friday artwork the markets are craft Show or the play and education Which is to the old ages so here in the following a Slice you will start to see how the site plan can support and accommodate these activities here So they start from the food and eating When when last time in a workshop we identify where it will be the potential kind of parking spot as a temporary area for the food truck to park and that Start to kind of provide the access for people access to the food truck here So the dot the dot dotted line here just to indicate the potential area we can do for the food truck to park there or Right, so or if the park curb design allowed at the park because we know that previously There was food trucks actually go went into the Congress Square Park And then people can enjoy that out like around the food truck here And which it could be at more of the temporary like an over the weekend of special events But we want to make sure that the space can accommodate That's different a variety of the food truck situation here for the circle dot here We were also talking about you know, it could be it would be nice Maybe that we can have some snack coffee event. It doesn't have to be big It could be almost like an or the ice cream car something like that but depends on the season depends on the event There are certain setting that will accommodate these type of food trucks or the snack Coffee van to to be on site Here a couple examples like the first one as I mentioned earlier You can start to have the food truck come into the plaza and people can sit around the Moveable tables and chairs here or in the middle. You see the example from San Francisco They are utilizing existing parking spots. So the van is really a regular size of it But then they open up people start together with the Around it and the last one is more of the extensive Virgin of which, you know, you would allow like almost the food truck park at the Congress and High Street and then that really surround the plaza and for people to have more of the extensive Side of photo is obviously what's happening right now and then the process in the workshop What we also want to make sure is what happening there and people enjoying it We make sure that we can do the same thing to accommodate and then adding on to more programming activities So that's the way kind of we see that program so For the performance we look into how the Congress square can accommodate different Venue in terms of from the music performance, which we have certain music Venue are really popular right now happening on the in the Congress square park Also, the art performance the street performing movie screening Projection on buildings or outdoor museum at PMA on the museum here So that you will see as the two walls from one side at the western or the other side at the facade of the museum Here we have the opportunity to utilize them as a projection. So not only for say the seasonal or holiday Projection that could be something for even like a digital image movie things as a Utilize this to Wall for that space for the movie screening in a way that we can start to utilize the stage area there And allow actually a deeper space that people can enjoy the movie Screening there and for the music performance really the main stage is right at that corner You see but then we also found a couple other spot will be really nice with the planting surrounding and the seat wall around it It provides a different view of how the Performance go and how people really view the performing So in a way if the performing on the stage you you know people look into the corner Or if the performing is right more of the adults down here The people start to see more of like the city and different buildings of background So it's just different type of experience For the music performance here couple example and again, which we try to make sure we capture What are already good and popular sound within the congress square park? We have the music performance and that is sort of our performance is sort of like they you know Different kind of activity and that is not necessarily can just be on the stage If we have a certain setting for these type of different performance You want to make sure that people can find their spot and doing the performance there in the middle That's a kind of example how we can utilize the exterior wall Not only for again for the pattern or lighting projection But you can also do the music concert or something projection to the wall as well Events there are day-to-day events. There are special events First we look into really most important thing for people all around here. We use the park every day So how how really this space can accommodate a variety of activities? The lease can go longer than that and then we found that these are most the top People most wanted to do on daily basis thing here people want to do people watching gather social poetry reading lunch break Educational learning play small events and small events here happening could be yoga Classes so all different bubbles here. You're seeing really just to show How the space can accommodate different like a smaller group of events here For you see like the thicker black lines with the arrow heading from let's start to identify where They can be associated with like the seating arrangement and how people can enjoy the people watching at different extent You can be more of on the step stage area more of a slightly higher point view to look down To the whole park or you can be more of closer intersection and look back to the park Or you can be more of in front of the army and here that get to enjoy a little bit more of that Garden Inclose the greenery here. So there's different type of people watching you can get to enjoy as well You want to be more fully engaged or you want to enjoy your moment here. So the diagram here just to show a different extent of the Experience in terms of the activity will be accommodated on day-to-day. So you can see the different sides of People has a different experience that each people has our own social size and circle That's that the sort of variety of the size of bubble represent flexibility of the activity and relationship to the social environment and The goal what we really want to achieve here is as we said inclusive park everyone come and do different things So to accommodate into the different scale and different type of activities primary focus for us and Hopefully this represent a little bit more easy to understand how people use but Even one space can be used a different type of program in different type of scale of activity and Even performance like the previous one that we saw show It's each person has a different relationship with the music and performance It could be directly in front of them or it's much a little bit far away from actually looking over the stage So the way we sort of providing to the different here and it has some a segment But it can be one space those of the flexibility can be provided different scale and relationship to the place Some example some already happening within the congress square park Also, we look into different variety to keep people some pop-up experience in terms of they have this mobile library Really popular in New York that kids can enjoy outdoor reading on a daily basis Maybe and they can utilize this flex space and they have a smaller group of gathering There From day to day to special we look into the possibility. What if we start to look between the museum? And the congress square here and then utilize as a one space that could happen more like a Sunday Street closure You can have more bigger events for instance even for the Pumpkin or some like a seasonal events currently only happen within the congress square park That could be part of the theme can kind of start to spill out to the cross the other direction of the street as well All these pink line are trying to say that when people are within different point of view from each Intersection they get to actually enjoy the holiday lights that could project to the Museum facade here And so that is really tried to to to think about it is that within the park or within the one a Major public space here or how we look into congress square as the one open space and particularly this is really a conspecial events that can Happen here Some example here to show for the full festival dance class street farmers market, which we could close the Congress Street side and allow people to move across between the our museum and the Congress square park there sitting so sitting this one Start to kind of peel out from the site plan that we show earlier and how you know They really relate to the open space and people can move But this is just to show different type of seating arrangement You can see some of them might get to have the opportunity to face to each other Some of them more of the linear you get to do more of the people watching Either within like an into the park or toward the intersection And also we identified a potential area that we can utilize a moveable chairs To encourage them more of the informal conversation happening on site Some example here whether how that seat wall condition can be really tying into the Planting area can they be more of different material changes? You see the middle There's a different way to introduce where you sit or people some people might want to feel like they are comfortable to sit on The concrete some people might feel like they want to sit on the wood So there's just different consideration and things that we're exploring Definitely these movable tables and chairs they're so popular and we wanted to make sure we capture that informal Informal kind of the engage social engagement within the park and throughout the congress square where can we populate these movable chairs? within the congress square Water feature here In a way, we wanted to talk up. We wanted to think about what can we introduce? Not just a water fountain as you see passively, but it's something more of like an interactive and that is for all age People can enjoy it They're definitely a little bit of the season limitation to it So when water shuts down what can we do with the space? So then we recognize that we to locate the identified this area will be Kind of the ideal which is surrounded by the landscaped area when the water shuts down if kids are playing within the area There's a visibility to it, but also they are surrounded So they are not right kind of running to the street directly, but also protected by the landscaped area And we started to pull that because within the existing park the current kids if you remember They're more of playing toward the back corner there That is a popular kind of activity, but we recognize we can start to pull that out and Having kids playing more to the central area, but still protected within the landscape here Here's some example how really we can think about a water feature They can be these interactive water jets or more of the mist and fog or even like a screen pours You call it's like a thin layers of water on the surface And then it's dropped down to the surface here So we are not creating any edge To prevent people to get into the zone and the idea really is that people get to touch it to play it And everybody can enjoy it at the same time So this way we can show all the little time it's going back to the paving area or some of time you can use the different usage It doesn't have to be found in some way Next level next Elements that we wanted to touch on is the landscape and planting approach and here is Patrick It's nice to be back. This is pretty encouraging turnout For the half dozen faces. I don't recognize them last time. I'm Patrick Kalainov Work in planting design, which always goes usually at the end I know tonight's different. It's a special occasion So I'm gonna touch a little bit upon the approach because what Kiko and Misa have shown you already is essentially kind of a structural and programmatic You know the structural and programmatic elements the bones and skeleton of how this can all work And then we start to flesh it out In the architecture studio that I'm in my friends who are architects not landscape guys often use the word greenery Which you heard before and and I make them put a dollar in a jar every time they say greenery Does anybody know what the Pantone color for 2017 is? It's greenery So But but so what you see now are these green panels, right and you see trees sticking out of them And so there's all different ways that that can become articulated and so that's what this process is about and it's essentially Hasn't really started yet other than this these general Proposition so one of the things we're exploring these are all images that were taken in the Portland area and Cape Elizabeth Last time we were here is this idea of Kind of concept of a dynamic landscape which we have all over the east regardless of of our various ecologies and the sense of of Ecological sort of rupture and fracture which can be all different kinds of ways in this case. It's geologic it curves over many Many arrows, but you have this sense of this emergent living component that's pushing up through these These spaces Opportunistically right and so you can pull lots of really interesting things out of these dynamic spaces and make them make them Functional in urban environment, so and the idea of seasonality is more nuanced than necessary than spring summer fall Right, you have a like last time I was here That's what the left-hand side is what winterberry holly looked like and this is what it looked like yesterday The sense that you have this progression even within a short period of time that something else can always engage you if there's enough nuance in the space you're developing and that that stone that same sort of fractured Landscape, which is kind of have such a local character is also something that is can be mined as our landscape components So a lot of what I do are taking Plants out of austere traditionally like what I would call austere Difficult landscapes because I'm really more interested in them. What how do they do on their worst day versus? How do they do on their best day right so what are what are the tolerances of a plant because then you know how far you can go and So on this sandy sandy slope just you know a foot and a half above the salt line You have iron weed in mid-August without irrigation beautiful purple foliage is perfect here and now brought into An urban project in a traffic zone in Boston And so it's not so much as a an argument for native per se as much as it is an argue for functionality But something that's also dynamic and beautiful so the seasonal Progression is all around us if we just focus on coastal areas or the coastal plain You know here's some sections here where the same meadow on the top left and right in the summertime You see a little blue stem starting to color up and some late late summer golden rod and now in the fall all that green sumac turning red or in the case below a little bit more nuanced in the herbaceous level a A Golden rod you think me a gram and a folia in its yellow form and then it's white seed head for so those little things become really interesting durable plants that are also Appropriate right and so we as we pull further and back into the urban zone We can have this seasonality work here in these detention basins on the project that we did leading into Brooklyn Botanic Garden and then here you have That same and Sony he ripped the eye and panic comes in the front turning golden red in the fall The other things we're trying to do in addition to just creating landscape spaces It's you're talking about creating a functional habitat and not just a habitat for Pollinators or birds for per se but also for people so it's a sense that you are immersed in a living landscape And hopefully those impressions that you make are Impressions that you're making on families or on children and you were kind of extending this Impression of what is possible in the natural world and have enough nuance to engage people throughout the year and you know the sense that That you know pollinators do live in the cities and and you know for the example the Holly They're fruit for the fruit eating birds and the example of the echinacea their seeds for the seed eating birds And so it's not just things to feed it's things that are part of a cycle or just used for shelter or habitat And that you know that seasonal progression is part of the same show um So what we're starting to talk about now is you just think about actually not you talk about is Those green panels so how much complexity Is enough how much is too much? I think a lot of times that is informed by The you know the kind of the physical character of those spaces how grand they are how narrow they are Um how much light there is but there are degrees of complexity within any Potential project so so you may have something that's a simpler Combination in the left there's a little mountain men butterfly weed And i'm sony on the left and then on the right you have sort of this graph more dynamic grass-driven landscape And so here's one example of how we started this is um a recent project for starting for the smithsonian and We're just starting to think about degrees of sort of the interconnectedness of potential plants and how many Is you know how many is the right combination and how much repetition? Really helps to drive that story and so it's in some cases It may be a simpler combination as it is up top, but where you have more depth you may start to see Sort of greater complexity Is in that bottom sketch so um when Talk about establishing these things and so one of the nice things about the herbaceous world Is that a really keen gardener that i know has his quote it says that um Gardening is the slowest of the performing arts And I think that's true if you're gardening with hedges and topiaries and You know 200 year old white oaks, which are all interesting in their own way But I think that one of the advantages of this is the herbaceous layer is how quickly you can establish something so in this case This is uh pete odoff's planting design for the high line and we have in chelsea the chelsea grasslands On the left hand side just the plants laid out one fall and that middle image is the following summer Okay, and then and then the following fall there it is on the right hand side so you can establish This herbaceous component while the other things are developing is you're going to need you know time for the trees to establish themselves Is one example So the nice thing is those landscapes, you know this while these are kind of doing their thing over here You know something to entertain you while you're waiting for the next show and so Season like the seasonality in the deciduous world like what does that really look like so here's one example get back on the Highline spent a lot of time Selecting gray birch is sort of the predominant plant for that part of the of the park and You can see it late summer there then fall and then winter and and so this idea of a winter landscape a winter landscape can be evocative without necessarily a bunch of Sculpted evergreens to kind of remind you that there's plants there You have a sense of not just this dynamic evolving Space but you have the sense of this kinetic character this moving element that you know his grasses and other herbaceous plants move with the wind etc Project that Kiko and I worked on in Bethlehem steel the Hoover Mason trestle. This is just fairly recent Only about a year and a half old and so you Have a sense really in it or in the early days of how quickly we're able to establish some of these plants And this is just one year, you know in that in the southern end of the zone from very small plants and plugs You know enough of a show to kind of let people know if there's a dynamic process in play But the the byproduct of that you don't always expect Every outcome right so this is a really interesting thing so the woman on the left hand side is a woman named Ilsa Um She is uh Do not be fooled by the age. She is a formidable a formidable lady and She essentially while the while the project was still in its sort of construction contract phase when it was hands off and the contractors take care of it We'd started to get in and I got a couple of notes from people saying that they'd be interested in In participating in a volunteer capacity And so she has essentially marshaled volunteers to go in and and take over and she sends emails Kind of asking for plant lists and ask who did plant walks and talking about what goes in next and and so that That completely organically That space which is not even a park. You know, it's kind of a it's a municipal landscape on a bridge in in Bethlehem seal Has become this participatory participatory experience for part of that community and that really helps drive A lot of the messaging going forward as people start to realize that You know, these things are not no maintenance. You don't put them in like a painting and step away You know, it is something that has to be engaged over time So it's lower maintenance than the traditional landscape, but not not no maintenance, right? So this is from um An article that the local paper did about these these volunteers who really jumped in to save the day Another example of a quick quick establishment on a lower budget You know on the lowest budget of the ones that I've showed you This is a a redesign of a section of the Rose Kennedy Greenway in Boston, which is the roof of the The big ding tunnel On the left hand side That's that's in the spring and then the following year summer Look like that and you're holding its own against traffic and on the inside enough of a barrier With a lot of seasonality. That's just spring and fall For people to be engaged And then they continued this process on to a bunch of sort of other failed parcels where Things have become overrun, right? So there's whoops There's enough seasonality there that the same section on the top left and the top right is just a season apart Okay, and under and they've extended this now to other blocks. So the concept being that this The sort of interwoven again, this is more complexity than Then you may you may end up seeing but the concept is that There's enough of an interwoven character there that if you lose any one thread You don't you don't lose the garment, you know, nothing is hanging on one large One large component to to be successful Okay So as you can see here the green That's when you need to kind of like grab all that texture and the layers around what country to share And then to underneath the tree area of tree canopy area here So we're showing green just really a conceptual way. We're not saying these are just flat green The depth of evil that I mentioned to coming in a little bit One of the one of the things you're always looking for too in An urban project are opportunities for for permeability or perforating this really this hard This panel of different streets and plazas and where the opportunities to just cut in and there are more You know, there are potentially more than you're even looking at here. I mean, I think this is sort of just a Kind of a placeholder for other other things and you can you know, any of those spaces can grow or shrink or You know, I think we're expecting to sort of expanding idea the free best diagram We show the blue line which is actually extension of the congress square It has a study experience to doing the using the planting or paving material So you can see our feeling of the congress square and so the character Square has and the planting is one of the big elements of that Because it's almost beating off and all elements the seeding and lighting and planting and Obviously we have public art piece and the significance of pieces while all of them is netting each other as Art everything could be art and this the site itself. It is the art and that sort of um Our role to create the one piece Horrific sort of approach and elements and art and collaboration. It can be create the one piece art Thank you so much I had a question about the decision with respect to the stage You didn't go into the Your thought process so much I think the The question was about the thought process in terms of where we start to sighting the stage would be It it definitely came out from the process that back in the october the workshop we look into Where would be the most? Location where it oriented to in a way you can accommodate a variety of size of the Crowd and where people would perform Is currently located is more of to work So you have actually shorter like in a shallower depths in order like people in front of it and spread out more of like a wider location We look into different moral fight toward inner to talk dean One way is that to utilize the corner almost provide a backdrop here And that it was people perform and they face into the Intersection here So the the idea is really coming using that also to elevate the stage and then to Give that space a slight Visibility so in a way it's double duty is that we try to in a way to tell people you kind of don't want to do something That's not welcoming because people can see you and so that corner wouldn't become a hidden corner as you would see Is currently somehow it could you know happen as a Corner there. So then the stage It's really coming through this different way the viewpoint and then how they can accommodate a variety size of the performance here When we are talking about Part the stage here Mining the one location we go here and see who kind of looking in this way While we sort of do our workshop and conversation We want to extend the experience to cross the street as well. Where is the best place? We exercise a couple different space the more likely this end up to the best place to extending a sort of The viewer to cross the street because that's one of the sort of method We can do unified intersection as one if there are big events going on Just to follow up if you will so I don't know if it's a good idea or a bad idea But it means I'll have my back on the track Which I think these some of the islands will give you a sense of the backdrop for the people who's standing in the space as well So this will be your view. This is almost like a front row from the VIP stage here You're gonna do the next stage here and then we do have these islands around you The idea to extend to here is that sometimes people want to know what's going on Not necessarily want to be right in there. So these definitely give you opportunities to almost like Understanding but not fully engage or participate through What's going on there? But definitely that's something we can think about how to utilize even the planting or some of the heights of the planting area to keep people a sense of Surrounding you're not having You know that the fear that the car is really run through and also there's a certain distance From where people stand to the traffic area too Three quick things uh, where are we gonna put the bike racks? That's just i always ask that to think about that Does the hotel cafe disappear or is the hotel okay with that or where is that? So we do kind of anticipate certain area, but not fully dedicate only but we do allow and then a snow plan because Parking So So we still have to exercise where actually store the snow and Those kind of thing how much did he need it? And that's yes one of the few times Also three quick questions when there are some some activities like Let's ring dance and jazz dance that really don't want to happen on concrete Is there a provision to perhaps have? A sprung floor or a heavy marley that gets rolled out if you thought about that storage Second you talked about shutting down traffic to which i Applaud i don't know if you're if you're imagining both congress street and high street but That's the ambitious i know But even for just congress or just high have you thought about your opening groups so that there's an agreed upon plan right now it's a huge Process to get that street closed It'd be very very nice to have a much simpler process And finally i'm interested in how you modulate the flow of traffic and people You know do you first get a chance to cross high street and then congress whatever in new york at one point We had the barn stance the bar with barn stance You could go in All the streets were open for crossing at once and then all the speeds were closed and the cars would go again And the cars you didn't all go in both directions. Have you thought about that modulation? Should we bring in a secret window? But we are engaging discussions with the department of transportation about what we can and cannot do and we do have some suggestions or some ideas about Actually diverting traffic I'd like to see us talk a little bit about diverting traffic from the bridge kestrel a bridge It's determined to go to 295 away from high street But that's a that's an exercise and also the other the other issue that We have and I think the city has a program now too about Simulation and there are ways to encourage or discourage traffic movements and patterns by the timing of the signals So there's there's some things that we have, you know that we're talking about That will come to pass I think as as this project evolves But you have some interesting ideas. Thank you Just quickly to catch that Dance floor I think I mean as currently they do have the dance floor like a 12 by 22 That dimension so for this area definitely accommodate minimum three What happened in that area here? So we anticipate to continue to use the same method just for people to be able to dance With this design, how many What's the maximum capacity you would anticipate For people who fill the next square The question is how many with the physical capacity number of people that can be accommodated by the space We haven't done an optional congregation in a way. Oh, we definitely have more than the last man Yeah, well, uh, I'm not the south face, but Currently podcast so I would easily say do more people accommodate, but we can come back to set the number We haven't done That design looks like it would be less because of all the chits not Oh Sorry So some of the Some of the earlier thinking had been to Look at the architectural confines Of the space as the square not just the Area approximate to the to this building and whatnot and certainly with the gestures That you're that you're using there with the planting and whatnot you're reaching across and In the modification taking up the island there in front of the high High Museum Certainly helps I don't see any real thinking in terms of reaching out materially or anything like that to try and Reinforce that that whole space. Is that going to be an art function? Is it going to be or, you know, paving? Winners have been talked about earlier on and really trying to blur those lines between the vehicle and the pedestrian any further thinking on that We do have thinking of it and that will be the next layer of it. Um, the the We don't say that's in a conversation It's also depends on how street alignment Infinity end up as well and there's a sort of pros and cons to Unifying using a surface material Which is we also have to think about safety Which is visually can unify the space but the same time you are inviting more of me to sort of the street side So we are carefully exercising those pros and cons and it definitely is material is a big portion to unify this surface Well, yes, definitely what he's missing right now in terms of these conceptual graphics is sort of the material difference between Street side sidewalks like how the sidewalk side material is going to be changed from the other place to when you come to Congress where Elena and that's definitely both a portion to exercise um It's hard to me to envision how much space is in the middle through bigger events And one of the things I do this is beautiful And one of the things that kind of works right now, but not as beautiful park is that we have movable Things so that the planters and that so if we do a whole big empty area for an event Does any of this move? So However We have some trees and magical elements as a screen but generally those counting is lower than your visual So if there's something happened for example here People standing here still can't be engaged to the event And people standing here certainly engage to here or is something big stage event or performance People can all the way through to actually engage to the event what's happening there and sort of part of So without moving around we want to be careful to sort of Choosing a planting of species how actually high higher it's coming up Without sort of distracting to the connection in between the space But in that way when nothing happens It is still you have a beautiful park And that's sort of part of the identity and we would like to make sure as much as the flexibility is accommodated But without sort of maintaining more or moving around to at the same time Daily days more less people people get enjoying It is a boss and I think it's still be able to come on the same size of the large event in Uh, part of this house holding it. It can be happened in the same proposed part But it's not moving around the front is not Okay, so that's the fifth Area in the middle. How how does that compare with this? That is roughly about I don't know how they translate it So that's the next level we need to study really they say for different sides of the Performance normally how people will be engaged to it And then definitely we can make these circles or bubble more of the quantified and to show how many people it can be and I think we have to you can bring back the numbers, but One of the things surprised when we went to the park it actually It's not really that big the the central surface because of the surrounding sort of topography and planting So in a way we very confidence to what we have in the central piece It's not much different from what we have in the central what it does a new approach is taking out those Buffer around the current surface people much use and engage to the central piece So it's going to be that sort of Usable space is much larger than what we have in a park right now Yes, you see the large You're seeing a large green presence here. You just imagine all the things think about it now and imagine all the things that have been subtracted So that big elevated raised bed the clock room the stairs down that the kind of the The really static edge of the stage for those raised beds Those aren't necessarily occupiable places. Those have all been pulled out the way that you move around that back corner So you get all of this space back that can then be re-articulated Each other Is the line of the sidewalk on carless street, is that the same because the current or are you it's extending out Yes, that's standing out from the current or The bumble did push It's the same line that it is now but some of the what's currently on street parking has been removed. So there is more sidewalk on the congress In is the intent to essentially clear everything out and start fresh You know, what literally take everything out of there and build a whole new you know We we have asked the design team to develop a phasing plan for us, but we haven't gotten to that level There wasn't the intent to clear everything out and start fresh Uh in a conceptual in a conceptual way. Yes, but how it actually gets built out. We don't know Yeah, to rationalize to deal with the changes and all these just ingrained and everything That's that would be as an easier. Yeah And so so in my secondary to that is What is the plan to be brick? Or is there some other plan for some other? surface treatment in a way is that we do have different Options that we can go with but we sort of don't want to distract ourselves That aspect is that we know if the space can accommodate these programs activities And the next level definitely we look into the material and material not only the paving Also the planting material need to come back in so that's definitely we wanted to give it more holistic approach to but but we do understand sort of that In a stage where we start exercising the material itself We we come from free and we have a snow as well And some is treatment is harsh and I think here more snow so I can imagine much more harsh So that the paving material is one of the big items we need to carefully select Well, the city requires for it And my question is the sidewalks are required to be brick but inside doesn't have to be brick You know, so my question is are you looking at different or you looking at the entire thing being brick? You haven't decided that we haven't decided that And just the last in terms of you tear the whole thing out You could actually import System in there to heat up the Sidewalk, etc. So you wouldn't have to deal with snow flower I think if you put a water system in there, you'd have to do something like that because it would freeze And be useless after the first winter So if you're going to put a water system in there You're not going to drain it from your system That would be very difficult to drain that Um, if you're proposing taking harkins vases out of that area are you going to make up for them somewhere else? Look in the same neighborhood The goal is to be at just net zero So if we take one or two vases away on congress add them on high or somewhere else. So that's what we're trying to get It's really interesting Um, I like the way you brought the green around the whole intersection I haven't the faintest idea what you've done with trees and I don't You I feel like you've tried to offer us everything and the park isn't big enough for everything and Several people have mentioned A stage and an audience being able to see now the steps. I understand There wasn't that park still is accessible You can go in at the left hand corner and there's no stairs But the steps did serve often in an amphitheater effect which was had, you know It had some nice points to it, but it just seems to me that realistically We're going to get some of what you've told us about tonight, but it isn't it can't all happen in that size of space Maybe the highest thing I want to know is we're just going to get all these bushes and wildflowers and no more trees That's about three times a big reason to have now Are those trees or bushes? Are they all new? This is all So they won't be the same size as what we have now No, it's hard to see them at this stage right because you've just seen the crown of the tree that could be something that St. Trunking, if you're multi-trunking, you know, a metal tree, if you're jay tree, and it's just sort of structure So you're going to take out what's there The understanding is yeah, that we would take out what's existing So I have a few concerns one is the stage being back there That's a cool idea and it utilizes the space, but One of the things that I like is that you can sit and watch music and you can Watch the city as well and be a part of the city and not have your back to the city and just commit To that and I'm just visualizing like you having to go in and committing or as or as You're coming in you're seeing the stage and like the backs of people And also the visibility of the stage sometimes there's just like small performances that a lot of people don't know about And it gets way back in the corner. I don't know how much it would draw in the crowd The other thing is if there's the splash thing I love anything that has to do that to accommodate the kids. I have a young child, but One of the things that I love about Converse Square is that it's you know, there's a lot of like People are out there reading and working and having conversations and A splash pad is going to draw a lot of noise which is already a noisy intersection and You're also going to have to look through that right if you're if there's a performance This flash pad would be in front of that So I don't know how that would really work out Um Being able to see the music and then also being able to watch it if there's kids on a splash pad So those those all are concerns Which generally is an operation point of view if there's an impact you turn it off like you know, you don't have to peed in components part of the part of the position Of the stage at least it's actually based on the previous discussions was a since some retreat from The noise Traffic noise and you have a sense of immersion If you have a scalable event you can be closer to the state for the smaller group and then grow larger as you You know depending on what the draw is as you move away and then that enables you to Kind of turn things on or off as you need them But this is to you know still sort of part of the discussion But that's just general the concept is that to the friends of the park and have to program that Space for you know in a way that really works On a day-to-day basis in all of these different Um constituencies kind of work together There's a lot of pop-up stuff, which is really nice to be able to Do last second and last you know, we're just Yeah, it's kind of nice to have that pop-up mentality instead of having to coordinate everything Like the system and shut down the water and and um that just one before I forget it I actually really love the sunken in effect because of The children, you know, they're able to just run around and play and even though it's a really busy area We all feel secure in this and so I guess I would I would just be concerned about losing that I mean, maybe it's that wouldn't be lost how you're But just to kind of plant that seed that Um It's really nice having the music over here and having that back corner for the kids to run around and play because they're totally secure in there And you know, we've all been able to kind of like Swing dance and also watch our kids over here without them being behind us Over where the traffic is if the music's there then there's much more potential There's no little nook for them to kind of dance and and run and whatnot Thanks, uh, you may have touched on the answer to this, which is that you haven't really looked at paving materials and But i'm looking at it's basically a traffic question looking at the hay building sort of almost being And aside like it doesn't have you know crosswalks or a real connection I do see you know a little bit of the same vernacular Green wise, you know landscape wise, but um, I guess i'm just looking Hoping to see um that same you know sort of across from the museum into the square and to the hay building all being Drawn together as one space And from a from a mobility standpoint from a you know person Who wants to go from the hay building across that there would be you know a very natural desire Line like you know the whole thing would be a big plaza versus like what you sort of shown It's very traditional crosswalk and I know you haven't really articulated all that yet, but I just um Love to see that the hay building in particular pulled in Through the design language And across the street hot obviously it's more challenging to go across high street But for that reason all the more you know that we can do to with You know not just traditional crosswalks but enhanced connections there I want to address the stage question a little bit further This this is a still it's hard to properly understand you in terms of how to overcome work And we call this a stage But we also say the one of the things we created the highest point about there Is exactly you mentioned people sit down there and looking back And which was a really great spot so nothing going on people can do that But it's not just nothing going on in the same way. So this is a high Low low low going back high It doesn't mean stage have to be there It depends on the scale If it's much more smaller or much more integrated performance People actually can play the jazz here and the people sit down here and looking back there as well So there's some sort of Flexibility of it and I understand so the people has a different experience and different direction people want to see the performance or Sit down and sort of engage to the part And and that kind of a step up is very important for us and are we are thinking to the flexibility Seriously taking as well So definitely And the other point like wearing my woke up program operations that draw the distinction between pop up And spontaneity because pop-up is not spontaneous pop-up is programmed and just like advances and just like The methods so so having flexible space that you can creatively articulate in a gallery and kind of turn it every which way Kind of conveys to the for the creativity of the sponsor and spontaneity is what just occurs In the course of the day in and around the park. So if you have net Net greater space than you had before I think it's for the more physical opportunity to have these Spontaneous character and then we can kind of explore what effect that might have is for kids and safety and enclosure and all that Just just to camp on the point across there by the hay building Connection why not that sort of expected Earlier thought and some earlier discussions about tabling the intersection bringing it up to Pedestrian I think I think just talking to the gentleman's comment over here that would make it Really attractive for a for an all-way pedestrian phase see And and You know all of this can be reinforced that pedestrian aspect of Oh one very it's a follow-up mark What you just said is one of the things that we are doing if you haven't picked up a lot currently If you're coming westbound on conger street The signal and the stop bar at the signal at the stop Back high is actually right at the intersection with high We're going to move that stop bar back to the point where it's actually be about lined up with a So that whole area from Across the park from the edge of high street back to The hay building per se is going to be wide open in terms of no cars are going to be stacked there While they're waiting to for the single tutorial So it's going to again reinforce the idea that that whole area is a connected part of the intersection Connects two edges together does that make sense? Yeah I just have some sort of humdrum Housekeeping questions Is there going to be some kind of a a corner or a cavity where you know maintenance functions would be kind of Hidden away, you know hoses sprinkler controls, you know trash You know sweepers things like that tools and also trash cans I don't know if there's it's you're just you know, wonderful design Somebody's just going to plop a bunch of big belly compactors in the middle of it But also, um Sadly smoking is one of the most popular things to do in Portland and in the in the park It's I don't think it's legal, but it's going to happen and also on the periphery. It's uh ubiquitous, unfortunately So I don't know if you're going to be designing for behaviors that are inevitable And early for all those questions from my background that is not that's like captain to have someone else talk about trash cans Because anybody's ever had one plop down and fill us up Walt Disney said 30 feet, right? Yeah So I think that that's these are all housekeeping Uh items with the with the conference where folks is talking about what you they've already Particulated some of the space needs of helping their their requirements are for stage material But um, but in the trash thing is also part of that So this is like whether or not there is recycling whether or not there's this municipal marking Or the way you articulate the trash versus recycling and who picks that up and what goes out and all that So you want it you want to scale it to the capacity of the group that's taken care of in the general get storage Just a cold So it's not like underneath the park or behind the slope or anything I think potentially we don't know what what anything is made of yet, but but there are There are a lot of good ways to do that storage area is That's a cool Make up of the location we are exercising but to sort of negotiating with what the sizes need to be But we don't know do you have all site storage area? Yes Hey Is there a 3d model anticipated in the near future because I think the public would understand this place is much better Yeah, yes Yes, yes Yes when next meeting Not by the not the four factors come in but in terms of communicating this idea Right because so the snapshot you think that's a 3d model in progress So we will continue like based on today while we're here. We need to start to So that that is there, but then the next meeting definitely will have more like only guys about updated versions to show And so you can get to see more in the detail I'm not talking about a graphic. I'm talking about three dimensional models that people can come and look at Understand That's That's really We have to think about that But I mean we definitely sort of we can show actually the Sort of experiencing from the other who even know it's like you're looking down But to creating a 3d. I mean digital is not the same with the vertical I totally fully understand that From that So we have to think about that but definitely we need to provide much more visual communication people can understand Stay inside for the next meeting for for sure And You have factually reduced the number of entrances on the three streets from the turn three to one And as a result the plaza in front of the art museums is greatly expanded Can we focus on that area for just a second and Talk about how that currently very dead area Might be in why so one one of the Idea is that to bring the green from the park side to order to connect this between the dialogue between the To the park. So you started to see these Islands coming to this way the same language we're thinking is almost like the energy who will be pulled into the hundred square and then continue to so the between the One more fellow and one more square. So you can see this island how they travel One is that it is on the movement. These are women people might want to just Have through later section. They might want to have little bit more of that by the time In front of the museum here or more of that area really is facing back to The museum and then more of the closed area. So it's a different experience. Definitely this is more of the More garden is Area that you will see and then here to still maintain the circulation here in terms of the connection to the And we have the discussion in terms of to bring the table top Perhaps one is the same here essentially the section that definitely is still in the conversation If we have the table top, which means that we won't have the curve drop People can serve us kind of traveling from here to here then a designated Opening perhaps not going to be as shown here. It means we might need to wind up where the start That so then we'll dictate really how this island will be located Really from here what the shown is that we're trying to To start to kind of populate the idea is that how this green kind of island traveling through The sides and then that kind of was like a pool in between the park and so in terms of sort of space right now We feel like it's undefined It's really undefined like it like a dead space as you mentioned And these are for why is that side elements as well as how to sort of the path and sort of the Comfort don't people want to sit down as well as planting How we line to sort of lay out the trees including the canopy the which way people are facing So in a way as a conceptual way what we're creating is also another social pocket So they have a passive going through but the identifying Okay, people comfortably sit down and waiting for people to meet going to the museum Or part of the intersection of meeting people is an important factor. So we want to create another social pocket Um, it does make sense. What do you mean by table top? So the table top we're saying is that currently if you see the profile you have the sidewalk Maybe a six inch drop and the road surface and come back in so you have the sidewalk and then to the roadway When you do the table top means you bring up the roadway to the same level as the sidewalk So there won't be a transition means you don't need the area to go down to the roadway coming back up to the sidewalk There are some discussion in terms of once we introduce that pedestrian safety is still a priority so that Some of its powers might need to be introduced. So there's a pros and cons in terms of how we want to introduce that flush surface between the roadway and the So that's the table top condition is the discussion of the table top the whole intersection Or just That would be the ideal condition, but we're not sure we'll be able to get there So we're actually going to transition to the public art topic I'm told that sarah is still not here. So which I feel like we're jinxed or something right because This happened last time too. So So david ramirez from z studio is going to present that material for us and With what time we have left We'll continue to take questions and comments about both the landscape and the public art and I just wanted to add you have some wrt has some boards on the wall With regards to seating and water elements if you have specific ideas or preferences They're inviting you to write comments on those boards or again, you can If you didn't get a chance to ask your question, make sure you write them on the index cards or Go online to submit those comments. My name is Dave Ramirez I'm a house builder by trade, but I work for sarah in her studio for over a decade and I engineered her pieces. I ran the installs public and institutions and so Talk about her process and coming to her decisions In partnership with the community and in partnership with wrt so sarah's initial site visit was last summer and what's what struck her most was The the idea of the public ownership of this park The process that she was told was going to include public input Which is rare for a Piece of public artwork. Usually it's a proposal See this, you know, there's not a not a public way to interface with that Work, it's usually a committee or something so Let's She notes here at the site with the public ownership And envisioned by the public Not just in regards to the artwork but in the way that the park wants to be Utilized by the community wrt went over And which we've gone with wrt as well And the other thing that struck her from her visit was that the park had Sort of different areas of activity that sort of bled into each other It wasn't a there wasn't a real delineation that this is now This is where performances are This is where people sit to play games. This is where people People watch Except for the Right except for the there we go, you know except for the The clock Okay, so from her first meeting Internal talks from the studio was whether There was going to be one sort of monumental piece Or a series of pieces of which sarah has done, you know, both in combination and On their own as well When mike and I came to the public meetings in october What we took from there And brought back to the studio was that it was um That the monument idea was not something that Had a lot of support in the community since there are already parks The two parks that on either side of the of congress square that have the monuments Meaning of you know a big Sculpture of a soldier over there or even you know The clock tower as an example of that Sort of monumental piece So From the idea of the park having these different areas of activity. She also sort of thought that the piece should also sort of Lead out into the park and have different areas Not just one major piece So after those october meetings Wrt started working on their design and and sent those to the studio Where sarah and her staff in the studio Started looking at places to to put her This concept of Several pieces Um, initially she thought that she wanted to pull people into the park With a series of pieces into that back corner um From the entries on congress square and high street, um, but in our meetings with wrt we sort of got This idea that the stage was going to be this the area in the back corner so The pieces that sarah was talking about doing wouldn't wouldn't work In conjunction or in you know, even near a stage so in this idea of changing and working with uh Ideas that we're getting from the community at wrt sarah went Back to the drawing board to say so we'll say So She's talking about three sculptures in Three different areas of the park. They're marked on the concept site plan on the back wall The idea is that these pieces will sort of create a narrative As you move Around them and discover them that you might not even Sort of see all of them at the same time or as the same visit You might see them in different You might see, you know in different progressions And this idea that you're going to be wandering through the through the park in a way that the wrt design has sort of Curved paths from From the street into the interior of the park and then back out So these are the areas that uh sarah proposed after moving out from the back corner We gave just a um an area Well, you know four foot by eight foot something like that. That was a initial idea that we gave to Wrt now the sculptures will not be Rectangular squares that are plopped into the landscape The idea is that not only will you sort of discover them as you wander through the park, but they'll also Be integrated into the landscape both hard and soft landscape So that the it blurs the lines of You know where the piece Starts and the ends and where the park starts and ends It's an idea that sarah has worked with for You know, how close to two decades now this idea of where the piece starts and ends And to blur that and to make that part of the story of the piece Microland and the the story of the park So each sculpture she has imagined that they will be sit Set in the you know these areas where where there will be trees Um to create these you know the The trees already sit in green areas that are that draw you to them In a way just you know as you're walking through the city that any trees Can they don't have to but they can And when you're there the piece will draw you into a closer more intimate look at at where you are and it It can uh the pieces can sort of transport you out of the park Or they can inform the language of the rest of the park as you sort of Move from one to the other or move from the one and out So and then that idea that I mentioned that it's that it's the line is blurred of where the park starts and where the Pieces also blurs the History of the piece that maybe the piece was there before I mean we all know that wouldn't be but that the piece was there before the park Came up or they came up in conjunction with the trees that sort of grew out of the landscape and this idea of her of Contemplating either where you are in the park or what the piece is sort of drawing you into Like taking you experientially out of the park an inch of the narrative so The idea that this is where this is what you might see and In a way that the piece may not be visible from one side of the of the Of the grove and that you might have to get closer to see it Here's more pictures of the high line which so show that sort of blurring of You know the hard part of the hard structures of the park and the landscape and where Sculptures might sort of wind up You know if there's if it's If it's in these trees you you have to sort of move closer out of the path to access them so Part of what Sarah does is she takes works that she obviously that she's worked with before and recently and sort of integrates them into The new works And in venice the second time she was there she was given a garden to To put work in And the sculptures which you'll see the picture Sort of grew out of structures that were already there this being a an old well And so this idea that you can't really tell what If this was there before I mean or after This is a temporary piece so that will not be water bottles in this piece but And then this all this is a another way that she draws you towards The space where the sculptures are so the the rocks are part of the sculpture And it sort of leads you in a visual trail into the work The line of the bottles that you up out of the work and into the Hole in the wall so this idea of the there's a story in the piece From beginning to end or from that from you know, you can start anywhere you want and that there's also a Story of the piece that relates to the rest of the park So as you sort of follow your eyes through the piece you see other parts of the park And like I mentioned before you might not necessarily see the other parts of the piece But as you walk as you walk through the park You may discover them So the idea of the the pieces will become part of the fabric of the park that if you're walking through Like with any public art you can ignore it and walk past it to get to where you're going or you can stop To contemplate or you can miss it And see it on when you're coming back the other direction And the idea of the narrative between the pieces So this is a picture of one of the things she did in Venice where there were These fake rocks that were in the larger piece at the pavilion that then scattered out throughout the City so as you're walking through other parts of Venice you would say You know, you would visually be connected back to her work In the park so again that the that the piece Is sort of intricately designed into the landscaping of the park So that it feels like it's So that feels like it belongs there or has been there, you know, has truly meant to be there in In a way sometimes that Statues do not They feel sort of placed like a trophy This is Sarah's work at the high line where That idea that the piece blends into the landscape, you know the How the structure connects to the ground here is blurred and the lines of the sculpture pull you up From the sidewalk into the trees and then out into the You know out into the skyscrapers Or it can draw you back in to these intimate squares Which again, you'll you know, you lose focus on everything else And get into the intricacies of the piece and this piece also sort of Was on either side of the path So in a way it looked, you know, we You could look at one side and not the other You could look at trying to take in both at the same time They look they look different if you were coming from the north or from the south So this is an overview of What she's uh proposed So the idea is definitely Now That there will be three areas Three distinct sculptures that form out You know that form a whole that form a narrative So in the park and with the park amongst themselves And hopefully, you know into the community activities and out into the city as well Yes, and then that's just the points of of this narrative That it can form with the landscape that you can form with your with your own experience with the sculptures that the sculptures can create for I assume from what you just presented that There's no Concrete concept of what these sculptures would actually be as yet There are but just in the way that uh Some of the wrt design things are Sort of left open where we we're not We're not sort we're not committed to anything at this point. We're still waiting, you know There's still this there's still a process And so obviously sarah has i mean sarah has had ideas from her initial visit last summer that have changed Through the for the past nine months To have I guess Me and I would say probably a lot of people would like to see what you're Working on is that concrete thing? Yeah Oh, yeah Yeah, sarah's there. Yes Um, the idea that she showed the picture showed the pieces from venice The works in venice. I think or where she's sort of thinking about moving towards there were these sort of hammocks that were made of string and other materials obviously not permanent, but they were sort of meant to To you know as symbols of You know, they were they were like stretched out canvases They're seating areas which I know which is important to this park they're, you know hammocks are Places where you can rest in the amongst the trees That kind of thing now these are not going to be usable in that way, but That is that's one of that's one of her ideas that she's thinking about This is really a question for both the sculptor and the wrt booth I can imagine and I can hope That we were talking before about the plaza around the museum That the museum with what it moves into that plaza a little bit Perhaps with the smaller large temporary sculptures perhaps with the summer permanent or even permanent sculptures with proper permission or perhaps with projections of other dates And I wonder how that works in terms of the site design and how that relates to and might work In conjunction with the sculptures that are being put as part of the congress square design And I haven't talked to mark. So this is just my imagination right I mean, I can't speak for the museum for for What they might be planning or on how they could work with I'm not trying to suggest that they're planning anything. I'm just asking Oh, then I'm the wrong person Yes, and sarah is not opposed in any way to these this idea What's going to happen to all of the bottle Are you doing anything to try to capture it? So it doesn't make up in the sewer system? Well, yeah, I mean in the general sense there's a Much larger permeable component than there was before so you're capturing a substantial amount I mean it has been calculated To the calculation that you made it's going into the sewer system It's going into planting because before it goes into the ensuing to the sewer system. So it's sort of taken up by The advantage of the permeability approach it was water running through their beds is It's taken up by the components within the bed more volume of plants around the bed the more storage there is for that That water bottle and then anything inaccessible can be taken up by the plants is still filtered by that process before it gets down So it's a net plus By by by a big margin to what you have especially when you start the entire Here's so the the notion of The art and the trees and and whatnot is very enticing and and That co-mingling the spaces that were shown on on on the site plan are rather slightly In those areas and so there's there's There was the discussion sort of being separated or taken out of the space to an extent and transported In other words to do that. So there's there's the challenge of having a piece that is observed From a separate location versus being interacted with and so I guess that's going to be wrt's general With sarah to to how to really make Blur that line and achieve that notion of the tree lawn, you know, any psychological way More observation Yes, I think for both Both of us have to work closely both of us have to we have a communication as we started and Then do we need to the step by step we can no go one way we are going this way and artists going this way I think the unique about this process is sort of from the beginning intent is the site design and our piece going to be coexist in collaboration and create as the one piece and and hopefully we are in the same way and attract as well And then that go into the depth process as well and research and yes, recognize that that's a challenge But that's unique and we have to achieve that to collaboration And that's the way we can create a sort of for exist on this I guess a little bit of a second Not follow up necessarily, but this gets back to sort of the whole Outdoor room And Structural aspects and three-dimensional elements and it made me think about life and if There's been things that that's an element of this that's very Visible not just because of life but because of scale and the size and whatnot That could be an artistic element that would help and a unifying element that would separate that space From the normal standard acorn streetlights That we've got you know saying it you come in with that and everything starts to change And certainly there's two two points your first point. This is a This is a rare instance where There's feedback from The public and feedback from a design team with the overall park into how the sculpture Either works in the park or what it you know, what it should be And which sarah has welcomed the That input which is why it's not we can't say this is what it is now As we get closer, of course, what will the same the same way that they'll be, you know, possibly models there will be You know materials and and other sort of more You know more specifically conceptual Images to what the piece will look like In the park and you know in its in and of itself in the spring I guess I think that is the idea that all of this is spring 2017 though right the design the design meetings, yes The next public meeting will be February 2017 So that time still is a public engagement. It's not a final presentation So by that time we will get to the next level of the detail and definitely we need to absorb the feedback for the next round and There will be more On Right and sorry for this the second point lighting has always been important to sarah But again, we're we're not sort of at the stage yet to say there should be a lamp here There should be a light here or whether the pieces pieces will light themselves, you know, so I guess if I just have any comment seems to me that it remains to be seen The level of collaboration between the landscape artist and the artist We don't have sarah here. So we're not hearing from directly But the imagery presented doesn't reflect communication Obviously yet So I think the challenge is between now and February to be more convincing That there's actual dialogue going on between the two parties so that it's a true collaboration it seems like you Exchange plans back and forth to find the location for part that doesn't site that doesn't seem to me to be a sufficient collaborative effort I don't know if you're on the right saying towns together or not, but there needs to be a coming together that's convincing In February with some tangible ideas about what the art is and how it relates to the design, but I'm just Not finding it tonight. I'm sorry. She's not here, but also I'm not seeing it in the material In a way that is convincing that there is a Community dialogue going on. So I implore you to do that between now and then so that we gain some confidence in the effort We well sarah has seen all of Sar has seen and received all the images that wrt have like you've said the plants and what have you I'm looking for something to Inform us that there's a conversation Substitute artistic conversation going on not yet So when you refer to the venice garden and then you showed us some images I have no idea it looked like three ceramic bottles and then a Brown thing that looked like almost a green Santa Claus pairing the bag. I don't know. I mean that's what it looked like to me I don't know what the material is. I don't know really what the hell the sculpture was so Well sarah's work has has always used the wherever the piece is going and the sort of vernacular of everyday objects things that you Whether it's unclear whether is Not that it's garbage, but that it is a piece of art or not You know, she doesn't use found objects. It's not that kind of thing. It's Taking objects that are something else and combining them in a way that it creates You know the work and a and a narrative for the space They don't you know, they don't just they don't Just sit on a wall or on a table. They sort of move you from The grass into the well up the wall in the hole and it's truly you might not necessarily know what you're What is actually the art? I believe that was a I believe it was a hole in the wall that was there not Not a mirror or anything that or nothing that she created either And the well certainly was not the well has been there for eight whenever 800 years It's empty now, but Yes, sorry. Yes, it was venice a levy sarah had Well, sorry the american pavilion four years ago, and then she was invited back to do this work in the garden last summer 730 we could take a couple more questions if people want to stick around, but I don't want to hold people up or people could come and speak directly to To our consultants. I do want to thank the west and again and ctn. Thank you all for your time And yeah And thank you to our consultants as well for being here If you're not already on my email list Please add your name to the list so that I can keep you informed about the next meetings And we will be posting the materials online if you want to add comments or questions there as well