Search Results for 'l street underpass'

L Street Underpass Art Park Finalist Announced

July 01, 2015

The NoMa Parks Foundation has selected the design concept for L Street, the second underpass to be transformed with light and art in the NoMa neighborhood. Future Cities Lab will create an undulating light structure, “Lightweave,” that will appear to float from the ceiling of the underpass. The installation will “peek out” onto L Street outside the underpass and beckon visitors to explore and enjoy the beautiful, transformed space. M.C. Dean will serve as contractor, with construction expected to begin in early 2016.

Lightweave

The NoMa Parks Foundation is committed to improving the lighting and overall user experience in all of NoMa’s underpasses. To that end, the Foundation has engaged Michael Vergason Landscape Architects to provide designs for “street furniture” and other ground-plane improvements.

“We very much look forward to your participation and input on this important public project,” said Robin-Eve Jasper, President of the NoMa Parks Foundation. “The NoMa Parks Foundation is extremely grateful for the high level of community participation in all of the parks projects advancing at this time. We thank the hundreds of people who have attended community meetings and submitted survey responses over the last several months.”

Community members are invited to meet the designers and construction team, learn more about the conceptual design and share their thoughts at the community meeting on Monday, July 13, 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. For more information on the design and construction team, please click here.

The Foundation started the underpass project in April 2014, with an international design competition that received 248 responses. The goal of the project is to fill NoMa’s four rail underpasses, at L, M, K Streets and Florida Avenue with light and art, making them enjoyable east-west connections for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers.

Newsletter: Parks Update – Community Meetings, L Street Underpass 

July 01, 2015

More than 60 people attended a NoMa Parks Community Conversation on June 18th for an update on the NoMa Parks initiative. NoMa Parks Foundation President Robin-Eve Jasper gave a presentation on the history of the Foundation and the NoMa Public Realm Design Plan, which is the framework for the proposed parks projects. Read more.

DCist: NoMa Lighting Up L Street Underpass

June 24, 2015

The L Street underpass in NoMa is about to get a whole lot brighter. A new art installation called “Lightweave” will go into the space, continuing the neighborhood’s plans to brighten and activate the four underpasses at its heart. Read more.

Greater Greater Washington: NoMa is Lighting up its L Street underpass

June 24, 2015

The L Street underpass in NoMa is about to get a whole lot brighter. A new art installation called “Lightweave” will go into the space, continuing the neighborhood’s plans to brighten and activate the four underpasses at its heart. Read more.

K Street NE Underpass

March 15, 2023

At more than 400 feet long, the K Street underpass is the longest in NoMa. It comprises six traffic lanes, including the K Street bikeway, and two narrow sidewalks that are each approximately 8 feet wide. The sidewalks are impinged upon by streetlight poles, posts supporting the elevated tracks, and drainage grates. Considering these constraints, NPF, with the input of local stakeholders and government partners, selected a digital display strategy called the “K Street Virtual Gallery” as a unique and exciting solution to the dark, unwelcoming conditions. For this underpass, instead of the project being the installation of infrastructural art to provide permanent lighting and appeal, the Foundation chose to leave the existing lighting in place and enhance it by providing the means for artists to project digital art pieces and light up the walls.

The K Street Virtual Gallery employs 12 laser projectors to create a series of large “canvases” on the reticulated stone walls in the darkest areas of the underpass, and it can be reprogrammed as often as wanted and practical. As a dynamic piece of technology, it will allow for a wide variety of artistic and cultural themes to be addressed and for different curators to be engaged to develop exhibits offering different perspectives. Finally, the K Street Virtual Gallery will provide a platform for artists to develop and adapt their work for digital display.

The first call for artist entries for the K Street Virtual Gallery was issued on November 8, 2022, and the first exhibit will open in early 2023. The NoMa BID and NPF will support the first several exhibits, in order to understand and demonstrate the capabilities of the equipment, with the help of contractor and concept designer Design Communications Ltd. In the future, however, the Foundation and the BID anticipate that other organizations will be invited to participate in creating and curating exhibits.