In New York City Street Design Manual issued by the city’s Department of
Transportation, the word “safe” appears 95 times, while “comfort” shows
up 14 times, and “belong” 0 times. The resulted benign concrete sidewalk
is an epitome of the recuperation in design for public space that overkills
hazard and fuels the loss of empathy in urban environment.
Intended to serve as a warning, hatch patterns, being repetitive ready-made
material signifiers in architectural drawings, are borrowed to expose the
insensitivity of the mass-produced concrete street pavement. Inspired by
the power of dust in Teresa Stoppani’s writings to “materialize oblivion,
blanketing over that which lies forgotten”, such patterns are stenciled with
glass dust, a material used for the coating of reflective road signs, so to be
only conspicuous to viewers from the source of light at night.
///hatch it///glass powder///dimensions variable///2020