A Relocation to the former Budd Company Plant

Interiors/Architecture by Ballinger

Challenges:

• Develop an affordable art installation for the walls of an existing bare and very long product delivery passageway.

• Produce a graphic treatment for this space that reflects Temple’s position as a major healthcare provider to the city, centered in the northeast area.

Background:

The architect developed a “Main Street” concept that would run the length of the 350-foot-long former product delivery platform. An installation of conventional artworks on a wall of this scale would have been prohibitively expensive.

Results:

Temple University has five hospitals in the northeast area of the city, and all of their administration operations are moving to the former Budd
facility. To make the employees feel more at home in the new quarters, we decided to make the walkway reference the ambiance of the greater
northeast.

We photographed the area extensively for a full year. We also included some existing city murals and images of the northeast corridor, along with scans from old archives of the nursing and medical staffs. From all of this we were able to develop a montage of 10 ft, x 40 ft. images running the length of the 350-foot wall. The image montage (printed on the highest quality washable wallpaper) puts life into what could easily have have had he feeling of a barren industrial corridor.

The artist, James Schaller, came up with the idea to randomly alternate image panels with painted panels. The end result, as you can see, is involvingly rich in evocative imagery. It appears seamless, a journey through times present and times past.