nothin Chapel/State Make-Overs Imagined | New Haven Independent

Chapel/State Make-Overs Imagined

Allan Appel Photo

Looking west at Chapel and State Streets.

Nearly every day two or three travelers de-train at the State Street Station and make their way over to the concierge at the 360 State Street apartment tower.

After crossing in front of the racing and turning traffic on State Street, they arrive confused, and exclaim: Where the heck is Union Station? Where’s Yale? Where in the world are we in New Haven?!

Atelier Cue

So … maybe it would be a good idea to put in an information-filled kiosk, perhaps as the centerpiece in a radiating plaza at the now under-utilized northeastern corner of Chapel and State Street.

That was one of many idea proposed to convert that confusing, not very safe, and unattractive intersection into a genuine place, a notable entry into Downtown and connection to Wooster Square.

Other idea included soft“mesh arches spanning the bridge across the tracks; large, see-through, sun-filled graphics lining that bridge; and more permanent sculptural features like platforms bearing an iconic New Haven form.

All these emerged at a workshop titled From Intersection to Connection” that the Town Green District convened Wednesday night.

Two dozen local residents, designers, Downtown business owners, alders and artists, and current and former city arts officials gathered at the Trinity Bar and Restaurant at Pitkin Plaza after work to review the work of Marissa Mead and Ioana Barac.

Atelia Cue partners Mead and Barac.

They are partners at Atelier Cue, a place-making” design firm that has been retained by the Town Green District to come up with ideas that don’t cost a million bucks, that emerge from the public’s input, to improve the Chapel/State intersection.

Really good community design doesn’t happen at a drafting table or screen, but with people,” said Mead as she addressed the congenial crowd over cold brewskies and white boards filled with four general options proposed.

All those options were relatively low-cost surface interventions” — involving lights, planters, painting, sculptural elements, and art.

Wednesday’s gathering showed ideas emerging from both an initial workshop meeting held in the spring and at least 60 subsequent interviews with assorted passers-by in the intersection: business owners, students, the concierge at 360 State Street, pedestrians, bus and train riders, and bicyclists.

The four goals that emerged and were repeated most by the designers’ interviewees were interventions that:

• make the place safer for pedestrians;
• make it more visually appealing;
• perhaps make a destination in itself;
• and, improve the lighting and the greenery.

The four general design and preliminary concepts that have emerged involve surface-level interventions including light, color, plantings and art, said Barac.

With that in mind, designers offered:

• An Archway concept, to be imagined at either or both ends of the bridge, with the arch composed of lightweight mesh and perhaps with some system of lighting as well.

• A Street Corner Screens concept, which might include large graphic screens placed along the bridge containing imagery of local and/or historical significance. Perhaps a cherry tree or a train. The designers envision the screens perhaps being diaphanous, letting in light and making for a pedestrian experience of shadows, for example, along the sidewalk. In addition, they were asking visitors to consider, at the corners, where the bridge meets the intersection, fans,” or larger elements that scoop walkers’ or viewers’ attention toward the bridge.

• Sculptural Bridge Pillars, a more permanent and ambitious, and 19th Century-ish concept: pillars or platforms that would contain some kind of sculptural art related to the place. On the white board illustrating this concept, the designers showed a photograph of the bridge in Willimantic (above) that recalls a legend about a frog fight” that dates back to the French and Indian War.

What would New Haven put on the top of its pillar or platform? A slice of pizza? A train? A lollipop? A hamburger?

The designers didn’t offer specific answers — that’s what they were hoping to hear from the attendees. Former arts czar of New Haven Barbara Lamb offered a caution: I love the pillar and the archway idea,” she said. But we don’t have anything like a whimsical icon, like a frog in Willimantic.”

• A Kiosk to be placed in a plaza on the northeast corner. Because lots of local people, the designers reported, get off the train and are confused as to where they are, the kiosk concept also includes suggestions for way-finding signage system.

Town Green District’s Win Davis and Barbara Lamb.

The discussion around this concept/and white board included perhaps painting the entire intersection in a manner that would also slow down traffic, as pedestrians, many new to the city, and taking as it were, their first baby steps in New Haven.

In addition to finding their way, they have to negotiate the strange all-corners crossing at diagonals that is characteristic of the Chapel/State intersection.

Local landscape architect Jason Williams said he likes the custom-designed screen idea, citing the symbology of New Haven.”

During the day, he imagined, the sun shines through the panels and puts the images on the sidewalk. So pedestrians on the bridge” walk on the images and have what a unique place-making experience.

Lamb offered a general caution to the designers: I don’t see the Chapel/State as a gateway. This is more of a transition point. To call it a gateway is a mistake.”

A true gateway” she said, is where cars come off the flyway and enter New Haven, or, more specifically, Church Street and Martin Luther King Boulevard, where the Gateway Community College library stands.

You’re right,” agreed Williams. A gateway is at the edges to make the first impressions to the visitor.”

Lamb praised those Willimantic frogs but called the pillar and monument idea too glorious” by far for the Chapel/State intersection under consideration. I think painting the intersection is more appropriate.”

That idea was not shared by Erich Davis, a local sculptor and fabricator. I’d like to see something grand and bold, yet also appropriate to the neighborhood. It should be simple and modern, but with scale,” Davis said.

He added a caveat, which echoed the designers’ approach: The most important thing is that stakeholders have a voice. That the finished product reflects that. Anything in the public domain, you have to have input from the community. Otherwise it’s arrogant.”

So the agreeable discussion went on, with Barac and Mead asking participants to write their ideas down on the large yellow post-its provided.

The next step: We’ll absorb the feedback,” said Barac, and continue to solicit more ideas from anyone who would like to contact them at ateliercue.com and hone in, for the next gathering, on more fully articulated options.

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