Taking handguns off Baltimore’s streets to meld into bike racks is one of the more unique ideas submitted to the Station North Arts & Entertainment bike rack design competition.
Organizers received more than 70 different designs from 49 designers and design teams, said David Bielenberg, executive director of Station North Arts & Entertainment Inc. “We really want the bike racks to make it feel like an arts district and be something that when you walk or drive by, you say ‘Wow, what is that? Something’s going on right in this part of town.’ A lot of creative things happen here behind closed doors, but the racks will pull it out onto the sidewalk.”
A panel of jurors will select eight designs to be fabricated and installed in March 2009 throughout the Station North Arts & Entertainment District. Winning designers will receive $4,000 to accomplish the feat.
Submissions were received from designers as far as California and Massachusetts, but the majority live in the Baltimore area, Bielenberg said.
“Public art like the bike racks are very necessary in adding a little visual spice or pleasure,” said Chris Shea, who submitted a design of forged, textured steel. “It’s a bit of human expression — beautiful and interesting, where perhaps you don’t expect it.”
Sanjit Roy’s submitted design functions as both bike rack and bench, he said. “It’s very much an engaging approach, where the person sitting on the bench looks out on the city and becomes an object for people to look back at. The bike rack project and similar public sculptural installations are the best way to activate urban landscapes.
“The bike racks will become signifiers of the future neighborhood,” added Roy, an adjunct professor of Architecture & Planning at Morgan State University. “The bike racks will allow the reoccupation of the sidewalk and streets, by both pedestrians and cyclists — a duo usually much derided in traditional car-friendly American urban design practice.”
On display
View contending designs tonight from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. during a public exhibit at the North Avenue Market, 14 W. North Ave. in Baltimore.
