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• SPA Board approved the new project on June 11, 2008
• Project Public Meeting on June 5, 2008
• SPA Board to approve Project Artist May 13 , 2009
• Public Meeting with artist anticipated September/October 2009
• Design anticipated Winter 2009 to Spring 2010
• Installation anticipated December 2010
In order to meet response time goals of arriving on the scene of an emergency within four minutes, eighty percent of the time, two new fire stations in the downtown Scottsdale are have been undertaken: Fire Station #2, which is completed, on Indian School near 75th Street; and the relocation and upgrade of Fire Station #1, to the southwest corner of Eldorado Park on Miller Road. Eldorado Park is part of the Indian Bend Wash, Scottsdale’s innovative greenbelt which is instrumental for the control of floodwaters during the infrequent but powerful rainfall events that occur in the desert. This greenbelt threads through the southern portion of the city and, due to its linear shape, thousands of Scottsdale’s citizens are within walking distance with over one million people making use of it annually. The original engineering response to the flooding in the old wash of a fenced concrete lined channel 172 feet wide would have divided the City of Scottsdale. Instead the Indian Bend Wash greenbelt forms a 7 ½ mile swath of recreational open space through the heart of the community, and is an unqualified success for the city environmentally, aesthetically, and functionally.
The site provides an opportunity for a standalone sculptural work in front of the fire station, though nothing precludes landscape or earthwork as a major or minor component. The artist will work with the City’s consultant architect and landscape architect for the fire station to create the siting desired for the artwork, to ensure aesthetic continuity with the architecture and to coordinate the art with the construction of the fire station. The Scottsdale Public Art Program is seeking a dynamic aesthetic that both captures a tradition of firefighters and is work of art in a park. Potential audiences include City employees, pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists, area residents and tourists.
Ilan Averbuch had built sculptures that create identities for many different kinds of places, from the Trail Blazers Basketball Arena in Portland, Oregon to a quiet and protected seating area in the center of the University of Connecticut. His most recent large-scale work announces one of the main entry points of the new light rail system in Phoenix, at the intersection of Camelback Road and Central Avenue. While acknowledging that in a public space, sculpture can be a guiding element, mark an entrance, direct attention, or aid circulation, it also communicates ideas and connects the viewer emotionally to the space.
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Preliminary design rendering of Fire Station #1 at Eldorado Park |
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Jana Weldon
janaw@sccarts.org
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