Kleiner Park design update

I'm so excited to finally be able to share the design for Kleiner Park. (see earlier posts for details about the project) Standing around 50 feet tall, the sculpture will be built out of plate steel, with accents of white powder-coated steel & will feature (hopefully) a vertical axis wind turbine that will generate power for the park :)The design & materials represent strength, integrity, & the spirit of a true American journey. The white flowing lines are the path of a lifetime spent overcoming obstacles & envisioning the possibilities of the future. The support struts on the sides of the steel structure speak of community support & involvement: adding strength of character & pushing upwards toward a better tomorrow... The wind turbine is also a nod to creating a better future; not only adding movement to the piece, but helping to offset some of the electricity used by the park :)

There will be three of the sculptures throughout the park; each will be created out of the same components, but will be individual & unique. I can just imagine seeing the top of the sculptures above the trees; spinning gracefully in the wind--check out the rendering below of the sculpture in place--I like the way it fits in with the architecture of the buildings & contrasts with the greenery of the park.... Getting to this stage has been really difficult; I think I've struggled more with this design than any before....finding the right balance of size, cost, design, etc for a piece that has to fit in within a relatively small base, but be tall & cool looking has been hard. And then thinking about concrete foundation, engineering, & coming up with something that work for 3 different designs, & different areas of the park....I really don't know how it finally clicked, but like 5 minutes before I was meeting with the Architect for the park, I sketched out the basic design :) This was after 2 straight weeks of sketching, re-sketching, researching, pulling my hair out, & freaking out a bit--funny how it works like that sometimes...

Anyway, I presented the idea to the design team for the park, & it was well liked & created some excitement--yay! However, as usual, with adding the wind turbine & pushing the size up, I have gone beyond the initial budget....we have a few different options; size wise to come in closer to the original numbers, but we all like the scale of the larger piece within the park. Now it comes down to coming up with some creative options to rework budget numbers & try to get this done. So, we are looking into grants/money available for green energy projects to help purchase the turbines & get them installed---if anyone out there has any ideas; let me know. I so much want to see the turbines in the park-it seems like such a positive for everyone--not only do they look really cool & add to the design of the sculptures, but its such a positive for the city of Meridian & Parks & Rec: to really get the the conversation about green energy started in such a public setting :)

Next post; will talk about the turbines themselves & the crazy process of finding the right company that sells them.... later...

Amber