Art on the BeltLine

Art on the BeltLine is a competition entry for a public installation beneath the highway overpass where the Eastside Trail passes Kirkwood Avenue and Wylie Street. The undercroft was already an informal stop: graffiti on the columns, music under the deck, people pausing in the shade. The proposal treats that spontaneity as the site's value and gives it a frame worth stopping for.

Three interconnected platforms, about 1,925 square feet in total, stack and shift beneath the structure in saffron-painted modular framing, wood or steel depending on durability and permitting. The stacked volumes work as seating, stage, and overlook at once. Stepped edges face a performance ground lit by strings of lights. Upper decks put visitors level with the graffiti, and the offset stacking keeps the trail itself clear. The color does deliberate work, marking the platforms as public and open against the raw concrete.

Studio RNB led planning and design for the entry, with collaborators Kurt Cheang and Zida Liu. We shaped the concept and the platform geometry, and built the visualization set that carried the proposal. The set pairs occupied views of the undercroft, by day and during an evening performance, with diagram sheets of the modular system.

Designed in April 2025 for an August 2025 installation, the entry was not selected. It stands as a study in reclaiming leftover infrastructure, the kind of site every city holds in quantity. A small public move there can change how a whole stretch of trail is used.