BLOOMINGTON – Installation of the Fourth Street Garage’s custom artwork beginning Monday, November 29 will require the closure of the eastbound lane of Fourth Street between College Avenue and Walnut Street, and the sidewalk on the south side of the street from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. until Thursday, December 2.
The left, parking lane of Walnut St., and the sidewalk on the west side of the street will be closed (and unavailable for parking) between Third and Fourth Streets from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., December 3 through 17. The closures have been approved by the Board of Public Works.
Urban Fabric, a work by Project One Studio with fabrication by Ignition Arts, features almost 9,000 aluminum panels to be installed across the structure’s facade. The artwork draws inspiration from the traditional art of quilting, representing the diversity and inclusiveness of the city through form, color, and pattern. The artwork was fabricated using a technique minimizing material waste.
Funding for the artwork was provided through the One Percent for the Arts Ordinance (Bloomington Municipal Code section 2.12. 021), which stipulates that at least one percent of the cost of construction for selected capital projects be used for public art at those projects or elsewhere. Bloomington was the first city in the State of Indiana to adopt an ordinance of this nature when it did so in 1994. The budget for this art project is $385,000.
Open to parkers since Monday, August 2, the replacement Fourth Street Garage is an environmentally certified structure providing dedicated parking spaces for more than 500 accessible, compact, electric, and standard vehicles and a covered bicycle depot; housing commercial/retail space, public bathrooms, and City Parking Management offices; and activating adjacent pedestrian plazas on its southern and western sides. The garage replaces one built in 1985 that was closed at the end of 2018 after it was determined to be structurally unsound and unsafe. Concentrating parking within dedicated structures–allowing some surface parking to be eliminated or redirected into more productive uses–is part of the City’s overall strategy to accommodate motorists while reducing their environmental impact. The Fourth Street Garage and the new Trades District Garage are the first two garages in Indiana designed and built to achieve “Parksmart” certification, based on compliance with guidelines that reduce environmental impact, increase energy efficiency and performance, and manage parking spaces efficiently. The garage features solar panels and electric vehicle charging stations.
More information about parking options in downtown Bloomington is available at Downtown Parking.
