ORCHID FOR PUBLIC ART

Jury Comments: The Lofts exemplify the successful integration of public art with architecture. Conceptualized by the architect and wholeheartedly supported by the developer, an artist was given the opportunity to tell a story on the canvas of the building. The west facing façade and balconies are animated by a perforated vinyl film displaying an evocative sepia-toned photo-abstraction of live oak trees by photographer Philip Scholz Ritterman. The translucent screen not only shades the building’s residents, but it adds complexity to the building and gives back to the urban landscape. When the artwork is replaced in five years, we hope that the developer will find an artist to create another special façade. This building would feel naked without its art!

Lofts at 655 6th Avenue is a 106 unit mixed use development and one of the few rental projects developed in the heart of downtown San Diego. The structure is cast in place concrete with in-fill glazing including a state of the art, on-site media center and computer lounge for the residents’ use. It incorporates principles of sustainability through the innovative design of a floating sun-tempering screen that sets out from the face of the building. This floating sun tempering element on the west elevation is suspended over the sidewalk below. It is, in essence, a second window system partially covered with photographic translucent film. Both the glass of the building skin itself and this outer hanging element will receive the film. Every ten years a photographic artist will be commissioned to tell a story using photographic translucent film on this exterior glass screen. This screen/story allows the building’s inhabitant and street life to interact with one another as passersby react and reflect on the images presented.

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