Louisville Knot
2019 / Louisville, KY
PIPE DREAMS
This street furniture installation commissioned by the City of Louisville works to mend a physical and psychological barrier in the urban fabric of downtown Louisville created by the Ninth Street Overpass, an elevated highway interchange passing over Main Street. Since the mid-century construction of the highway, the historical divide between those living and working on the East and West was heightened, with the Portland neighborhood experiencing disinvestment and vacancy while the urban fabric east of Ninth saw new cultural institutions, hotels and restaurants invest in its historic structures. The Knot addresses this gap in the urban fabric, inserting an oversized piece of street furniture under the overpass. The structure provides a tactical framework for parties, play, and commerce, encouraging residents and visitors to not only cross the divide, but occupy it.
FABRIC FURNITURE
A series of bent and bundled steel tubes hand-formed from a mile of linear material by a local fabricator weave together to create seating, tables, lighting, bike racks, signage, and an extra-large swing, reframing the sidewalk and an adjacent parking area under I-64 as an inviting space to pass through and gather for special events. Through community engagement activities and neighborhood meetings, residents, workers, business owners and other local stakeholders contributed to the Knot’s programming. The project strengthens urban and social connections, transforming an underutilized area into a welcoming pedestrian thoroughfare.
ALL LIT UP
The Knot is a new opportunity within the Louisville urban fabric to pause and reflect on the city’s future as a dynamic, welcoming, diverse and increasingly connected community. Notwithstanding its history as an urban divider, the existing highway overpass is an incredibly rich visual experience, and its accidential drama is amplified by the geometry of the installation. The underside of the overpass creates both soaring and intimate experiences, forming public rooms capable of accommodating events both large and small. The Knot provides an atmospheric infrastructure for these events, transforming the underlit, cavernous volumes of the overpass into a space of respite.
