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Public Art - Consulting

"Artists' Architects"

Partner Brian Laczko's extensive experience draws from multiple angles of Public Art. In addition to his own direct contracts for public artwork, he sits on the "other-side" of the contracting table as Chair of the Alameda County Arts Commission and its Public Art Advisory Committee. But it is his experience from working with two design innovators, Lawrence Halprin and Donlyn Lyndon, that he cites as seminal motivating influences on his direction into the advocacy of art as a stimulating role for public places.

All of this together gives him a unique perspective that is a true asset for:

- public art administrators, wanting some stability with their development plans

- private developers wanting to do more for their community but efficiently

- government project managers, wanting leverage value into their projects

- architects and designers, saddled with limited scopes

- most of all, artists working in the public realm, both veteran and novice alike, who want the most executable and implementable solution for any idea.

Consultancy examples

Below are examples of the breadth of our expertise - from planning to urban design, from the bureaucractic to detailed design and execution - in working with variety of artists and arts organizations in the realm of Public Art:

Click here for detailed experience in public art

12th Street Bridge Reconstruction, Lake Merritt

Cultural Arts Division/City of Oakland, CA - 2008/09

Working with artists Todd Blair and John Rogers, with help from Alice Prussin Lighting Design, we assisted in the development and coordination of their artwork into the larger Public Works' bid sets for the new vehicular bridges and surrounding lands at the 12th Street crossing of Lake Merritt.

More here for Project Breakdown

Luminous Oakland, Telegraph Ave. Media/Light Art Corridor

Public Art Advisory Committee, Oakland, CA - 2007

Working with Oakland PAAC, we did a survey of potential sites along a four-block stretch of lower Telegraph Ave. The focus on possibilities for both permenant and temporary locations for incorportaing public art, especially media and light art, into a quickly transforming redevelopment district.

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Central Light Fixture / Ann Chamberlain, Artist

County Planning Board Hearing Room, San Leandro, CA - 2005

As "percent-for-art" aspect of a renovated hearing room for County Planning Commission, artist Ann Chamberlain's concept of 14-foot diameter steel disk, rotating above the chamber. Laser cut into the steel plates is the shape of Alameda County, as well as portraying the distribution of population at the time of its installation.

More here for Project Breakdown

Victims of Communism Memorial / Tom Marsh, Scupltor

Federal Triangle, Washington, DC - 2004

Having worked closely with Mr. Marsh on his SF Chinatown Goddess of Democracy project, he asked that we work together on some initial urban design/siting studies for similar memorial in Washington, DC.

More here for Project Breakdown

Goddess of Democracy Memorial / Tom Marsh, Sculptor

Portsmouth Square, San Francisco, CA - 1992

As the architect-member of the Steering Committee headed by Tom Marsh, we successfully installed a scaled-down bronze replica of the sculpture erected by students during their 1989 protests in Tianenmen Sqaure, Beijing. It is located in Portsmouth Square, a public park at the heart of San Francisco's Chinatown