Faculty Members Collaborate on Public Art Project High Above the Elizabeth River

By Paul Lipkowitz, September 29, 2006

People used to the gritty looking industrial shoreline along the Elizabeth River will be in for a surprise this month if they gaze up at the giant LaFarge cement silos in Money Point along Virginia’s Elizabeth River.

Assistant Professor of Architecture Phoebe Crisman and Assistant Professor of Art and Architecture, Sanda Iliescu have collaborated to create three enormous yellow banners made from plastics that will hang from the silos beginning on October 19. For the past two years Crisman, whose professional work combines architecture and urban planning, has collaborated with a task force to develop a sweeping revitalization plan for the heavily polluted Money Point area.

Spear-headed by the Elizabeth River Project, the plan calls for a host of environmental improvements in Money Point, an industrial area just west of I-464 in South Norfolk. To be implemented over the next ten years, the work is timed to coincide with a $5.5 million cleanup of contaminated sediment at the bottom of the Elizabeth River.

For Crisman, the highly visible banners, or “kites,” are a way of drawing attention to changes in the area that may be harder to see but no less breathtaking.

“Historically so much has gone wrong in Money Point,” Crisman said. “The big question for us was how to imagine a future that’s much brighter for the environment in the area than the past has been.”

Sixteen Silos Preliminary Sketch by Sanda Iliescu.

High atop the list of improvements will be cleaning the river bottom of Money Point. The sediment there contains some of the highest recorded concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), a known human carcinogen, in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Decades ago two industrial accidents in Money Point spilled more than 150,000 gallons of creosote into the river.

Other changes called for in the Revitalization Plan include the creation of a 100-foot-wide buffer of vegetation designed to filter chemicals out of storm water running off Money Point into the river and the construction of a playground, sidewalks, and other civic improvements in the small Money Point residential community. About 100 people live in Money Point today, down from several thousand residents decades ago.

Crisman and Iliescu were inspired by native wetland grasses to design the banners. They chose the color yellow because of its hopeful, luminous quality. “Phoebe and I see this project as a metaphoric journey of rejuvenation,” Iliescu said. “One that starts at the water, climbs up to the sky, and then returns to the earth and the people in a transformed shape.”

Hanging the ten-foot-wide banners will require a feat of engineering. Each banner will be suspended from steel beams mounted atop the LaFarge cement silos; all will be able to swivel back and forth from recycled steel pipes thanks to a structural steel hanger system of Crisman and Iliescu’s design.

A test banner is flown from the top of a silo at LaFarge Cement.

A team of twenty U.Va. students from the School of Architecture and the College of Arts and Science’s McIntire Dept. of Art and Dept. of English created patchwork “tails,” made from recycled plastics, for the “kites.” The project was developed to honor the work of the Money Point Revitalization Task Force, composed of area residents, businesses, local government, and state and federal officials, and supported by a grant from the Andrus Family Fund to U.Va.’s Institute for Environmental Negotiation.

Faculty and students, as well as representatives from the Elizabeth River Project, LaFarge Chesapeake Terminal, community members, and other businesses and government officials will be present at the ceremony on Oct. 19, when all three banners will be hoisted atop the silos. Along with other events that afternoon, the art project is intended to celebrate the unveiling of the Money Point Revitalization Plan.

	Home > Calendar > In the News > Faculty Members Collaborate on Public Art Project High Above the Elizabeth River By Paul Lipkowitz, September 29, 2006 People used to the gritty looking industrial shoreline along the Elizabeth River will be in for a surprise this month if they gaze up at the giant LaFarge cement silos in Money Point along Virginia’s Elizabeth River. Assistant Professor of Architecture Phoebe Crisman and Assistant Professor of Art and Architecture, Sanda Iliescu have collaborated to create three enormous yellow banners made from plastics that will hang from the silos beginning on October 19. For the past two years Crisman, whose professional work combines architecture and urban planning, has collaborated with a task force to develop a sweeping revitalization plan for the heavily polluted Money Point area. Spear-headed by the Elizabeth River Project, the plan calls for a host of environmental improvements in Money Point, an industrial area just west of I-464 in South Norfolk. To be implemented over the next ten years, the work is timed to coincide with a $5.5 million cleanup of contaminated sediment at the bottom of the Elizabeth River. For Crisman, the highly visible banners, or “kites,” are a way of drawing attention to changes in the area that may be harder to see but no less breathtaking. “Historically so much has gone wrong in Money Point,” Crisman said. “The big question for us was how to imagine a future that’s much brighter for the environment in the area than the past has been.” Sixteen Silos Preliminary Sketch by Sanda Iliescu. High atop the list of improvements will be cleaning the river bottom of Money Point. The sediment there contains some of the highest recorded concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), a known human carcinogen, in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Decades ago two industrial accidents in Money Point spilled more than 150,000 gallons of creosote into the river. Other changes called for in the Revitalization Plan include the creation of a 100-foot-wide buffer of vegetation designed to filter chemicals out of storm water running off Money Point into the river and the construction of a playground, sidewalks, and other civic improvements in the small Money Point residential community. About 100 people live in Money Point today, down from several thousand residents decades ago. Crisman and Iliescu were inspired by native wetland grasses to design the banners. They chose the color yellow because of its hopeful, luminous quality. “Phoebe and I see this project as a metaphoric journey of rejuvenation,” Iliescu said. “One that starts at the water, climbs up to the sky, and then returns to the earth and the people in a transformed shape.” Hanging the ten-foot-wide banners will require a feat of engineering. Each banner will be suspended from steel beams mounted atop the LaFarge cement silos; all will be able to swivel back and forth from recycled steel pipes thanks to a structural steel hanger system of Crisman and Iliescu’s design. A test banner is flown from the top of a silo at LaFarge Cement. A team of twenty U.Va. students from the School of Architecture and the College of Arts and Science’s McIntire Dept. of Art and Dept. of English created patchwork “tails,” made from recycled plastics, for the “kites.” The project was developed to honor the work of the Money Point Revitalization Task Force, composed of area residents, businesses, local government, and state and federal officials, and supported by a grant from the Andrus Family Fund to U.Va.’s Institute for Environmental Negotiation. Faculty and students, as well as representatives from the Elizabeth River Project, LaFarge Chesapeake Terminal, community members, and other businesses and government officials will be present at the ceremony on Oct. 19, when all three banners will be hoisted atop the silos. Along with other events that afternoon, the art project is intended to celebrate the unveiling of the Money Point Revitalization Plan.	This Week This Month : November In the News Feature Stories Archive Lectures & Symposia Exhibits Podcasts UVa Academic Calendar UVa Events Calendar UVa Student Activities Calendar Sixteen Silos Preliminary Sketch by Sanda Iliescu. Sixteen Silos Preliminary Sketch by Sanda Iliescu. Students unfurl the banners in the Campbell Hall Courtyard during the assembly process. Students unfurl the banners in the Campbell Hall Courtyard during the assembly process.
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