Underpass Competition Finalist Announced, Community Meeting

April 27, 2015

Plans are moving forward for the dramatic transformation of the M Street underpass in NoMa into an illuminated passageway with light raining down from its ceiling. The NoMa Parks Foundation announced last week that Thurlow Small Architecture + NIO architects have been selected to design the installation for the M Street underpass. M.C. Dean will serve as contractor, and construction is expected to begin in fall of 2015.

A community meeting to introduce the design team and contractor, and to garner additional feedback on the concept and design, will be held April 27. All are invited to come and meet the designers and construction team, learn more about the conceptual design and share your thoughts! The meeting will take place on Monday, April 27 from 6:30 to 8 PM in the Lobby Project, 1200 First Street, NE. This event is free and open to the public; RSVP here. An American Sign Language interpreter will be available.

NIO architects hails from the Netherlands and Thurlow Small Architecture is based in Rhode Island. NIO architects has completed more than 10 underpasses in the last 14 years. Thurlow Small Architecture is an architecture and urban design services firm that has worked locally and internationally on the planning and development of parks, downtown placemaking, and public infrastructure. “Rain,” the M Street installation, is still in the conceptual design phase. The cascading drops of rain will be LED lights hung inside hundreds of polycarbonate tubes. Learn more about this project at nomaparks.org.