whats behind the wall

Written by: Incubaker on October 24th, 2008

I lived in Boston for years and dealt with the eyesore of construction that came with the big dig project. There were barriers and wooden blockers covering the city as they worked on the project. I actually didn’t think much of it at the time but just remembered that I couldn’t wait till they came down.

Take a look at the photos above, same city (NYC), but different construction projects; look at the difference in how its presented. On the one hand, you have the typical blockades and not only is it ugly but it somewhat derogates the area and makes it very unwelcoming to pedestrians. Now, take a look at the other barrier, which is colorful and vibrant. Not only is it welcoming, but it stands almost as an art piece which people instantly get attracted to. Not sure what the cost difference is but maybe its worth it.

What do you think?

Categories: Innovation, blog

Tags: construction, NYC, wall

Chai

I haven't seen those in Beijing Andi. I've only seen plain walls plastered up, but it's a great idea. Something else to think about would be to have windows in the walls, not big ones that could pose dangerous but small viewing holes. This way, you not only get to see the printed pictures of the project, but you can see the project in process.

Andi

I think it is very much worth the effort to install coloured walls. Still, I prefer the Beijing approach towards locking construction sites away from the public. They printed pictures from the project study on plastics which were then attached to all walls around the construction site. It was not only welcoming, but also informative and one would like to come back to see how it looks like when the walls are gone. Of course it's less artistic and futuristic than the New York approach.

See a picture of the wall in Beijing at http://tinyurl.com/beijingconstruction