This proposal was for a public art commission in Louisville, KY. On approach of the Ninth Street underpass, the need for this project becomes abundantly clear. The enormous barrier cutting through the city has reinforced Louisville’s historic cultural and economic divide, both physically and psychologically. It is encouraging that the city has recognized this issue and has put this project in motion to respond to it. While interviewing local businesses, the desire to “eliminate the divide” is echoed regularly. This proposal aims to substantially bridge the divide between east and west Louisville, both physically and emotionally through visual impact and light.

FUSION is an undulating gradient that brings together several discrete components into a united canopy. The project is intended to draw people from both sides of the underpass and connect the currently divided neighborhoods through form, color, and light. Unique separate panels float overhead, converging toward the middle of the project in a unified element. This fusion is located between the two overpassing bridges, slightly off center, referencing the increased need to draw people from downtown to west Louisville. Light and color work to further emphasize the blending and connectivity of the project. The panels are subdivided into smaller fractured colors that blend from cyan in the east to magenta in the west, melding into a mosaic of larger panels in the middle. As light is cast on the ground plane, the fractured gradient will blend into a pure transition through the underpass.

FUSION will attract pedestrians, bridge the current divide, and become an iconic symbol for the unification of east and west Louisville.