The Siah Armajani Bridge and Lighthouse sits on the end of the bus ramp at Staten Island’s St. George Terminal. This large bare and open architectural sculpture connects the elevated roadways with the ground-level pedestrian underpass of the Staten Island ferry terminal. The 65-foot long bridge connects to the south bus ramp. The body of the bridge is constructed in blue-grey steel tubing. Inside the bridge hangs four incandescent light bulbs illuminating the wooden footbridge. It is supported by perpendicular orange steel slats which hold the bottom of the wood beams. On either side of the slats are biconvex orange steel frames that extend above the flooring. Walking through a rift in the chainlink fencing of the ramp and across the bridge,…show more content… Armajani, born in Tehran and now based in Minnesota, is an Iranian-American artist and sculptor. Starting primarily in two dimensional work, Armajani moved from calligraphy and drawing to now working with sculpture and architecture. Armajani’s art practice touches on many contemporary political issues, especially politics in the Middle East;his 2005 Fallujah piece was effectively censored in it’s initial attempts to show. While not a political statement, formally, this piece of public architecture is similar to his others. He is most famously known for the Staten Island project, as well as his design of the Olympic Cauldron for 1996 Atlanta,GA, USA Summer Olympics, which is now on display in Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park.The Centennial Olympic Cauldron is nearly identical to the Staten Island Bridge and Lighthouse. It features a steel tower, connected by bridge, and a landing with pentagonal walls; all using the same teal and grey blue steel and same patterns. Aramanji designed another pedestrian bridge over Interstate-94 in Minneapolis, connecting Loris Park to the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. In these structures, Armanaji hopes to create space for thinking about the metaphysical “All buildings and all streets are ornaments. Moreover, the lighthouse and bridge gives a place to the representational arts of poetry, music, and performing. By embracing all of the arts, the lighthouse and bridge asserts its own perspective everywhere.” All of Armanajani public works have been in effort to help physically connect the public to
