When finally unveiled it was remarked that the carpet was much paler in colour than was expected from Heatherwick's original visualisations.Ĭurrent status The tiles have rapidly faded to a blue-grey colour, a fact that is made more obvious when damaged tiles are replaced with those of the original colour. However, the first batch of tiles delivered were green rather than blue and the whole project was set back several months.
.jpg "blue silver carpet")
The Blue Carpet was intended to complement the existing buildings and give the city a contemporary icon. Heatherwick's design provided was an integral part of a project to improve the streetscape and context of the Laing Art Gallery, which was left marooned following the demolition of the old Victorian library in the 1960s, with a blank brick wall facing towards the city centre. Following the success of Anthony Gormley's Angel of the North in nearby Gateshead, Newcastle and other neighbouring authorities were keen to invest in other high profile public art commissions.
The work was partially funded by the Arts Lottery Fund and the European Regional Development Fund. The total budget for the space was £1.4m.
#BLUE SILVER CARPET SKIN#
At the eastern end an existing staircase, leading to an elevated walkway, was replaced with a new one, featuring a curving skin of wood ribbons, constructed by a local boatbuilder.Ĭompleted in 2001, the piece took six years to realise. There are a number of benches that appear to fold up from the carpet surface, and beneath the benches are sunken glass-topped boxes that hold coloured lights. At the points where this skin reaches a building the slabs curve upwards to create the sensation that the tiles are a fabric laid over the area. The square has been covered in a skin of blue paving slabs, made by mixing crushed blue glass with white resin. The tiles were originally a much deeper shade of blue. Although classified as a piece of public art, it is closer to an urban design feature.Īrtwork The Blue Carpet. It is an area of public open space in front of the Laing Art Gallery, close to the main shopping and nightclub areas, paved with glass-and-resin slabs which curve up at the space's edges, giving the appearance of a fabric carpet. The Blue Carpet is a piece of public art in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, England, designed by Thomas Heatherwick. For the use of a coloured carpet in publicity events, see Blue carpet.Īt the points where this skin reaches a building the slabs curve upwards to create the sensation that the tiles are a fabric laid over the area.
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