reducing and discussing the effect of heat island, storm water, and air quality on the City. Inserted into the verdant green fabric of the Connector are art and lighting elements purposely crafted to interact with and activate the surfaces of the Connector. The art of the Connector will transcend traditional labels with all elements – greening, lighting and art – working together to create the Atlanta Museum of Freeway Art (MOFA), a firstorder art tourism destination whose mission is to transform the Atlanta Connector and the national appreciation of art and freeway. The museum is created by co-opting the complex spatial character of the Connector as a museum space crafted with both the high-speed traveler and the neighborhood viewer in mind. Retaining walls, bridges, tunnels, and the furnishings of the Connector will become a framework of museum walls and spaces. Super graphic murals, lighting effects, slow motion video, and sculpture will be used to highlight the natural and cultural history of Atlanta. Like its sister museums and cultural foundations in Atlanta, MOFA will have a permanent collection, rotating collections, membership, a board of directors, a national level curator, and a museum shop. By refocusing the conversation about the Connector from that of a freeway to that of a museum space, a much richer, intensive and transformative design solution can be achieved. As the Connector is transformed from negative to positive, the public realm, private properties, and institutions along its margins will realize the positive attributes of the new culture growing within this new found public space. The result will be the creation of new urban spaces above and along the Connector that seek to take advantage of the new infrastructure. Urban parks, promenades, trails, pedestrian bridges, and development projects are envisioned as urban insertions that will ripple through the City fabric as new connections are made and old ones are reinvigorated.
LANDSCAPE AS CATALYST
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