Artists, engineers collaborate on Baltimore subway

Baltimore’s new Metro Shot Tower subway station features a unique use of glass and other design elements that offer a fresh perspective on art in public spaces and its integration into capital construction projects. The direct result of a collaboration of artists, architects and engineers, the recent $350 million downtown extension of the city’s 15-mile rapid transit system began service May 31, 1995.

Breaking still generally accepted project development tradition, the collaboration meant that artists were asked to think in terms of the evolving architectural scheme and that the architects consider public art opportunities as an integral part of their design solutions.

The team approach was initiated by the Maryland Transportation Authority to avoid the misplaced “plopped-in” look of art that has been added to public space projects after completion.

Cost of the art component of the equation was one-eighth of 1 percent of the overall total cost of the project.

A glass wall-system mural was installed at the platform level of the Shot Tower Station–the design motif, consisting of richly colored ovular shapes, is carried forward in a rhythmic, repeated format on both sides of the full 450-foot length of the station.

The artwork was executed in more than 400 4-foot-by-by 4 1/2-foot connecting panels of ChromaFusion glass, a permanent, color-fast laminated graphic architectural glass based on state-of-the-art technology developed jointly be Cesar Color, Burlingame, Calif., and E.I. du Pont de Memours & Co., Wilmington, Del.

To implement the glass technology, a project team was provided with fully integrated design and engineering services, including color coordination, mock-ups and prototype development as well as controlled in-house manufacturing and installation engineering.

The two glass-wall systems also cover the bare slurry wall construction of the station, which provide the basic water barrier for the station, which was largely built below the surrounding water table.

Underneath the nine-foot-high glass-wall system and rising from the track level is a 3-foot-high insulation system with perforated aluminum panels filled with acoustically absorbent material to minimize sound from train brakes.

The laminated architectural glass uses a PVB-based patented interlayer and manufacturing process that ensures exact color reproduction, clarity of line, photo imaging consistency and uniformity and color-fast permanence.

An economical panel format was developed with panels measuring 46 inches by 53 inches. The clear gaps between panels are positioned to coincide with the spacing of the eight,foot soldier piles that reinforce the station wall, allowing for easy maintenance inspection.

The panels are arranged in two horizontal rows stretching the 450-foot length of the platform. Each panel is made with four concealed clips, which attach to a sub-framing system fixed on the walls. A set screw is used to position the panels in place.