Public Spaces
Let's cover blank walls with public murals
One of the most basic tenets of good urban design is that walkways should be lined with things to look at.
Why not add murals to this tunnel at Court House Metro?
Blank walls discourage walking because they make a walk seem boring and therefore longer, and because empty and lightly maintained spaces feel less safe. Detailed, colorful places are inherently more pedestrian friendly than dismal, blank spaces, and therefore urbanistically superior.
So, given that, why do we accept so many blank spaces in our cities?
Take a look at the photo at right. It shows a walkway under Wilson Boulevard leading to Court House Metro station. The walkway isn't much longer than the street is wide, but walking through it is a pretty dismal experience. It feels like such a long and dangerous walk that few people use the tunnel.
Sprucing it up would almost certainly increase usage, and could potentially lead to higher Metro ridership. Better lighting and some mirrors would help, of course, but what about a little art? Why not cover each wall with a series of colorful murals?
There is no need for any such project to be expensive or logistically challenging. Every high school in America is filled with art students who would love a chance to show off their skills publicly. Metro could work out a deal with a local school: Give each art student one concrete panel and let them go wild, as part of a class project. Coordinate with teachers to make sure murals turn out appropriate to the public (and if one doesn't, 10 minutes and a bucket of white paint solve that problem). For practically no cost, Metro would dramatically improve the user experience at this station. If it leads to even a modest rider increase, the project would pay for itself.
How many other places around the region would benefit from a similar project? Any city resident can probably think of 10 blank walls somewhere in their neighborhood. It seems the only reason they can't be improved is that nobody bothers to do so.
Of course it is true that Metro and the city at large have bigger problems than a few blank walls, but this is low-hanging fruit. It will take long, hard work to solve Metro's systemic maintenance and safety problems, but this is something that would positively influence the system and could be accomplished with nothing but a few hours of coordination and the cost of paint.
Let's do it.
Cross-posted at BeyondDC.
 | Dan Malouff is a professional transportation planner for the Arlington County Department of Transportation. He has a degree in Urban Planning from the University of Colorado, and lives a car-free lifestyle in Northwest Washington. His posts are his own opinions and do not represent the views of his employer in any way. He runs the blog BeyondDC and also contributes to the Washington Post Local Opinions blog.   |
Comments
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by Froggie on Aug 17, 2010 3:58 pm • link • report
by spookiness on Aug 17, 2010 3:58 pm • link • report
Talk about a generation gap. Over on the "Struck" thread from Sunday, Lance is arguing against the use of iPods in public.
by Matt Johnson on Aug 17, 2010 4:00 pm • link • report
But, it's better than nothing.
I approve of the idea, and would point out that we also have quite a number of pretty decent academic art colleges in town.
I would make sure that the projects are taken seriously. It should not end up like the horrific music crap that is "performed" in metro stations.
I'd also like to expand it to all the gray concrete walls around the here so-hated elevated highways in the area.
by Jasper on Aug 17, 2010 4:10 pm • link • report
by Froggie on Aug 17, 2010 4:23 pm • link • report
...And/or for hallways that are big enough, perhaps also small merchant carts: food would be ideal, but some other small office- or tourist-oriented trinkets might also fit in well without creating the potential food trash issue on the rail system.
And PIDS in the tunnels! I love to know when I need to run back when there's still some time to do something about it.
by Bossi on Aug 17, 2010 4:27 pm • link • report
I use this tunnel every day, occasionally late at night, and never have I found it to be dangerous or creepy. I'm not sure it needs artwork. I would just like someone to clean it regularly and especially after windstorms, when it manages to collect a lot of debris and litter.
by ArlRes on Aug 17, 2010 4:31 pm • link • report
by Phil on Aug 17, 2010 5:05 pm • link • report
I guess "urban murals," especially by high school students, is its own aesthetic which some people find appealing, but I personally don't.
by JustMe on Aug 17, 2010 5:16 pm • link • report
Last I heard, the Bicycle Man was shelved... have they brought it back or chosen something different?
by Bossi on Aug 17, 2010 5:19 pm • link • report
http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/artwork
I think DC resident's will appreciate it (if done tastefully) a bit more than our Virginia and Maryland neighbors.
:-)
by PG on Aug 17, 2010 5:26 pm • link • report
I find Metro ads to be mild, and sometimes even useful -- it seems like there are a lot of non-commercial ads (museums, PSAs, etc.). Buses ought to have more ads, updated more frequently -- sometimes they're for events months past.
I'm all for art, too -- but if we can't do that, ads are better than concrete.
by Gavin on Aug 17, 2010 5:41 pm • link • report
by Gavin on Aug 17, 2010 5:42 pm • link • report
DO you have a reference for "one of the most basic tenets of good urban design is that walkways should be lined with things to look at"? Is there an authority on urban design, or a common source that folks typically refer to?
MY basic tenet would be walkways should reveal their location and their destination. So, if you're underground, show exposed underground boulders. If you're above ground, show a view of the air space. If the walkway leads to a Metro station, stick a giant M at the end.
Art is a tricky thing. And it's funny that many folks prefer good advertising to bad art - I'd agree. I think it's because having a professional artist or designer produces much better results than giving some 5th-grade class a bunch of paint brushes.
by M.V. Jantzen on Aug 17, 2010 5:42 pm • link • report
I'll concede I tend to be in the camp of anything is better than nothing when it comes to texturing a wall surface; unless the nothing is specifically a part of the overall art piece as an element of negative space.
But I do agree with MV a bit in that I like natural touches, too... I can like a lot of things, actually. Ads, art, natural or natural-looking elements, even textured or curved concrete can be nice (I kind of like the curved tops/bottoms in a number of the Metro tunnels). But a sheer blank wall... that's my own personal bigger pet peeve.
by Bossi on Aug 17, 2010 5:52 pm • link • report
by Lance on Aug 17, 2010 6:09 pm • link • report
+1 for pointing about blank ways could mean advertisements. Of course, that would mean somebody would have to sell them.
by charlie on Aug 17, 2010 6:09 pm • link • report
hmmm ... can we think of any local transit authorities that might benefit from additional streams of revenue ... Let me think ... These would be in a tunnel leading to a Metro Station ... hmmm ... WHAT ABOUT WMATA? (assuming they own the tunnel ... or a local jurisdiction/authority that could be persuaded to let WMATA use it for more than just egress and ingress owns it). Of course, the only problem would be that with the quality controls WMATA has in place, we'd have to worry about these posters falling off the walls ... and hitting passengers in the head ... Oh well, there goes that good idea. ;)
by Lance on Aug 17, 2010 6:16 pm • link • report
Yes. The Death and Life of Great American Cities.
by BeyondDC on Aug 17, 2010 6:21 pm • link • report
The links provided to NYC subway wall treatments reveal a few additional ideas that are far more classy, relaxing, beautiful, etc than any kid mural or advertisement could be.
And speaking of ads - stunning to me that anyone would ASK to see more ads. Regardless of what they are for. (And not as if you can choose which ads to see....) Definitely NO to ads, from my POV. Blank walls are far superior.
by Josh S on Aug 18, 2010 8:57 am • link • report
Philadelphia publicly funded mural artists with cool results. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mural_Arts_Program
There is a lot of cool art, just out on the street. Of course hiring graffiti artists in the DC area would never work. A few nosy neighbors would flip out and kill the whole project, thinking it would incite gangs and poor people to run amok.
by matt on Aug 18, 2010 9:09 am • link • report
Yeah, it's funny to think about, but I bet most of us would rather see ads in a place of the blank walls shown in the picture above. I think the reasons are two-fold, those blank wall really are foreboding and with the absense of other folks in the tunnel, would deter many of us from using it ... or at least from wanting to use it. Also, ads can be informative ... and unlike murals, will change often, not have a political message attached to them, and be generally kept up since someone has an interest in seeing them kept in good order (i.e., the ad company handling the posting.) Now, if this were a nice sunny outside wall, I'd probably prefer the 'leave it alone' option. But it's not.
by Lance on Aug 18, 2010 9:12 am • link • report
by BeyondDC on Aug 18, 2010 9:40 am • link • report
Of course there is an aesthetic preference here and there is not much point in debating the "attractiveness" of blank concrete versus framed posters for Excedrin.
However, on the merits and characteristics of advertisements in public spaces, I think there is room for reasoned debate. You assert that ads don't / won't have a "political message" attached to them. I guess it depends on your definition of "political" but ads certainly DO have political messages, whether blatant or not. I don't know what the rules might be for an underground tunnel that may or may not belong to WMATA, but certainly politicians have used billboards. But even restricting ourselves to private companies, I think it's pretty hard to remove politics from ads for McDonnell Douglas and their warplanes, for example. What about oil companies who buy ads to declare their commitment to "energy independence" or "green energy" (as BP used to do...)?
As for informative. Are you referring to PSAs? Like - Give a Hoot, Don't Pollute? Or - Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires? Or Just Say NO? Or do you mean how you can learn about the existence of a new erectile dysfunction drug that you didn't know existed before? Or the location of a new Applebees? Maybe you mean how the Smithsonian will advertise a particular exhibition? Or the National Theater can advertise its current production?
All of these things include information and so I guess are defined as "informative" but are they all valuable? So if I walked down a blank tunnel and then compared my life with that experience with my life after walking down a tunnel filled with ads, what would I conclude? My life is improved by ads in this tunnel? I don't know, but I'm skeptical.
BeyondDC - again, it's an aesthetic thing. But if art is not an option and ads weren't an option - couldn't you just paint the wall a nice bright yellow? I wonder what would happen if four of us wore painters clothes, bought several gallons of yellow paint and just showed up one day and painted the damn thing. Would the county come back and somehow paint it grey or something? It sounds as if the tunnel gets little use so it seems unlikely anyone would "report" us as we were doing it.
If Lance came, he could paint an ad for Rice a Roni.
by Josh S on Aug 18, 2010 10:08 am • link • report
by Jeez Louise on Aug 18, 2010 10:10 am • link • report
by Angela Fox on Aug 18, 2010 10:12 am • link • report
I DO think that graffiti artists should be incorporated. This is exactly how the Mural Arts Program in Philadelphia was started. There is a lot of creative talent out there that can be channeled in more positive directions. And - Grafitti Art can be amazing and fantastic and beautiful.
by CBrown on Aug 18, 2010 10:56 am • link • report
Now that I think about this some more, the problem with subway ads in the DC area, compared to NYC, is that we are a bit too afflicted by "lobbying ads" of the type directed at congressional staffers trying to convince them that giving more money to Lockheed Martin for a new fuel transport is a good idea.
by JustMe on Aug 18, 2010 10:57 am • link • report
WMATA has a RFP (request for proposal) process as well to be open and fair to all those who might want to participate rather than be exclusive to one or several artists. One solution for this to really be Public Art is to allow the public to contribute to the artwork and therefore, they also have "ownership" of it. This creates positive awareness and accountability for the protection of the art within the tunnel as well as a more interesting and friendly place to walk.
There is a project called the Big Draw that primarily happens in England the month of October and is gaining international recognition. If WMATA wants to improve their image, gain the public's favor and increase their marketing with positive exposure, I can see this idea being a win win. Paint the walls white. Have anyone who wants to participate pay a set fee with proceeds going to a predetermined charitable cause and let this event occur in coordination with the Big Draw -- bringing the advantages of public art to the forefront with the recognition that it brings people and communities together.
by Casart on Aug 18, 2010 11:56 am • link • report
by JB on Aug 18, 2010 1:41 pm • link • report
by Bossi on Aug 18, 2010 1:43 pm • link • report
by BeyondDC on Aug 18, 2010 7:07 pm • link • report
And we can charge a toll! Wanna help build a toll booth there? ;)
by Lance on Aug 18, 2010 9:52 pm • link • report
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