Here, in the city: houses, streets, shops. There, at the other end of the passage: the Danube Canal, water, trees, a little piece of nature in the city. Two areas which make different demands on our awareness: attention and a need for order as part of the urban bustle, freedom of time and thought in the recreation area. Two “worlds”, separated by an arterial road and connected by a pedestrian passage beneath it.

Julie Hayward designs the short passage from here to there and back again as a place where there is a change from one mood to the other. Anyone coming from the urban side, walks down towards the canal. The watery blue of an illuminated panel, complete with underwater creature, prepares us for relaxation. Led by the luminescent blue of the passage, we follow the path to the water – and once again out into the light. Returning from there, the word “auftauchen” (“emerge”)
signalises not only the change of height level, but also the change from the free flow of thoughts (beside the canal) to the attention that will be needed when one re-emerges into the flow of city traffic. The colour blue and the bright light accompany us back up through the passage and out, from the proximity of nature into more artificial surroundings.
Text: Lucas Gehrmann


abtauchen/auftauchen (“submerge/emerge”), 2009
Artistic design of Löwengasse pedestrian underpass, 1030, Vienna
Commissioned by KÖR, Kunst im öffentlichen Raum GmbH (“Art in Public Space”), in cooperation with the City of Vienna, Dept. 29 (Bridge Construction and Foundation Engineering)
Invited competition, implemented

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