Blueprints at Addison Circle

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Blueprints at Addison Circle
Blueprints at Addison Circle.jpg
Artist Michael Van Valkenburgh and Mel Chin
Year2000
Typesteel
Dimensions13 m× 43 m(43 ft× 140 ft)
Location Addison, Texas
Coordinates 32°57′41″N96°49′33″W / 32.96140°N 96.82594°W / 32.96140; -96.82594

Blueprints at Addison Circle is a steel sculpture located in Addison, Texas officially unveiled on April 13, 2000. [1] It is one of approximately 20 works of public art throughout the town. [2]

Addison Circle and the surrounding area was built in 1997 to create a more traditional walkable urban town center; [3] [4] it is a 133-foot-diameter (41 m) roundabout. The sculpture inside the traffic circle consists of 25 poles and five panels. It weighs 410,000 pounds (190,000 kg) and required 650 US gallons (2,500  L ) of custom "Sharpie blue" paint. [5] The work is more than 4 stories high and 140 feet (43 m) across. It was designed by artist Mel Chin in conjunction with landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh and with the aid of LeMessurier Consultants, and was fabricated and erected by Big D Metalworks of Dallas. The poles weighing 9,000 pounds (4,100 kg) were made in Houston, Texas and the tapered cones at the top of the poles were made in New Jersey. Total cost for the sculpture was $2.1 million. [6] [4] The nighttime lighting was designed by Stephen Bernstein of Cline Bettridge Bernstein Lighting Design. [7]

The sculpture is said to resemble the branching pattern of a grove of oak trees. The panels follow a design using actual blueprints from Addison's municipal buildings, parks, bridges, and water pumping facilities. Of the work Chin said “I chose to represent in this the physical representation of blueprints, the infrastructure that you don’t see—and to celebrate the ideas floating above you.” [1]

Addison circle park panorama.jpg
Addison Circle Park Pavilion and Blueprints

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References

  1. 1 2 Emam, Hoda. "6 Ways to Absorb Addison, Texas' Arts and Culture". Atlas Obscura.
  2. "Addison is a small town big on public art". Dallas News. August 9, 2022. Retrieved January 10, 2024.
  3. "Addison Circle". SAH ARCHIPEDIA. February 2, 2023.
  4. 1 2 "Mel Chin and Michael Van Valkenburgh: Blueprints at Addison Circle, Addison, Texas". Sculpture . December 2000. pp. 14–15. Retrieved 5 January 2024 via Wikipedia Library (paywall).
  5. "The "Blueprints" steel sculpture in Addison Circle, an urban park in Addison, Texas, a Dallas suburb". Library of Congress. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
  6. "Masterpiece of the month: 'Blueprints' at Addison Circle". The Dallas Morning News . 29 June 2015. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
  7. Liao, Alice "Blueprint Special" Architectural Lighting Magazine, April 2, 2002