NYC Construction Barricades

Thanks to Joey at Curbed, check the info on the construction barrades in Lower Manhattan. Joey photographed one barricade in process and spotted the NYTime story.

The project is documented with complete photographs on how to construct this street elements at reconstructionnyc.org. Re:construction is organized by Alliance for Downtown NY in collaboration with the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

I am attracted to the project due to its internal contradictions of being both

1. invisible - visible (normal barricade - public art event) and
2. legible symbol - confusing metaphor ( simple safety alert - artistic message)

As result, the orange zebra barricade is most successful.

Zebra concrete barricade by Tattfoo Tan Photo: NY Times.

Striped fences by Carlos J. Gómez de Llarena, Mateo Pintó and Carolina Cisneros

Design of overhead barricade by Richard Garber and Nicole Robertson of GRO Architects

On the street construction by GRO. Reported by Joey on Curbed.com

Of course, the construction barricade or safety fence has been the material of other artists. Unfortunately I can not find the images of Lo Tec's fence in 2001 in Fort Lauderdale. Carolyn Law's overlapped vinyl chainlink in the early 1980s for an electrical substation fence in Seattle. She continues work in chainlink today.

Broad Street Station in Seattle by Carolyn Law in early 1980s

Bridge Fences in Kent, Washington by Carolyn Law in 2006