Facing east on Spring Garden Street toward the Delaware River waterfront, people in Northern Liberties will spot a new 60-foot-tall sculpture that lights up at dusk and glows into the night.
The installation, called River Soundings, was completed last week after more than two years of planning to activate a public space at the 470-unit Rivermark apartment complex. The development sits at the site of the former Festival Pier music venue on Christopher Columbus Blvd., where a small park and walking trail now offer views of the Benjamin Franklin Bridge to the south.
River Soundings was designed by Seattle-based public art studio Haddad | Drugan, which won a commission as part of the city’s Percent for Art program. When developers build big projects on land acquired from the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority or use city funds, they are required to set aside 1% of their budgets for site-specific public art.
“We wanted to do something that created a beacon from Spring Garden and also have it be inspired by the river,” Laura Haddad, who co-owns the design firm, said of the project. “I grew up sailing and I’ve always loved nautical charts, so I started looking into those and learning about the tidal change. That kind of led into our concept of representing the depth of the river.”
The cylindrical sculpture has a series of streaming, reflective “lead lines” that represent depth-finding devices that boaters once used before the advent of electronic depth sensors. The Delaware River ranges from 23-48 feet deep in Philadelphia with tidal changes that can swing 6-10 feet. Sailors would drop lines with lead weights into the water to chart and determine where they had safe passage. The cables on River Soundings have weights at the bottom that represent the actual depth of the water adjacent to the artwork.
“We wanted to design a sculpture to ‘mark’ the river, but using materials that represent both the weights used in early lead lines and the shimmery reflective quality of light on the surface of the water,” Haddad said.
During the daytime, thousands of blue discs strung onto the sculpture drift with the wind and catch the sunlight. The base has etchings that include a map of the river’s depths and various navigational instruments. A ring in front of the sculpture offers a place for viewers to peer into its spiraling center that’s based on Fibonacci curves found in nature.
Around dusk, the sculpture’s LED lights turn on and illuminate the sky with the river and bridge as backdrops. From Spring Garden Street, the sculpture can be seen from a distance through the open courtyard of the development. The LED lights are programmed to shift into a dim mode at 11 p.m.
During Haddad | Drugan’s research for River Soundings, the designers visited local libraries to learn about the river’s depth and the history of navigation. They also were inspired by lighthouses and other signal markers that would enable the sculpture to fit the nautical theme and be appreciated from afar.
“We have a lot of dynamic blue lighting representing the river, as well as some interesting visuals and color plays,” Haddad said. “We’ll also be representing certain holidays and colors that can be triggered if there’s a Super Bowl or something for the sports teams.”
Haddad | Drugan has done a few dozen projects in about 25 cities, including a beloved 20-foot-tall sculpture of a dog (made with dog tags) outside the Denver Animal Shelter. Another project at San Francisco’s Port Pier 92 turned the wall of a grain elevator into a colorful mural with dynamic lighting at night, giving the structure life before its planned demolition. The firm often works with public art programs meant to beautify spaces in transition.
“I think it’s a win-win because the art can enhance the development and draw people there,” Haddad said.
The Rivermark started welcoming residential tenants last year and is now leasing several ground-floor commercial spaces, including the Sprouts Farmers Market that opened in the spring. Lucky Duck, a tavern meant to be a space for millennials, is slated to open early next year in another building near the sculpture.
The project is part of a decadeslong effort to revitalize the Delaware River waterfront by creating more trails and public spaces, including the 11 1/2 acre Penn’s Landing park that will cap I-95 by the end of the decade.
Haddad said River Soundings has added emotional significance for her. Her brother Michael, who lived in the Philadelphia area, died during the construction of the sculpture.
“His memory, the bonds that this experience caused us to form with the project team, and the city’s notion of brotherly love, will always be embedded in our emotional resonance with this artwork and place,” she said.