Interstate 195 cuts through the center of Providence, dividing downtown from the historic harbor area, and slicing into neighborhoods on the East Side. A project, now underway, will relocate the highway farther south, and once traffic begins flowing on a new bridge, the fifty acres of land under the old highway alignment will become available for redevelopment.

↑ Opening panel and two panels from the Bridge section.

City-State, the RISD urbanism and planning institute, presented an exhibit of faculty and student proposals for the 195 land and the future of Providence. I worked as part of a team of RISD and Brown students to curate and assemble the exhibit, which went on display in several locations around the city.

↑ Creating the background image. The exhibit had to work in different locations, with a variety of wall configurations. In order to unify the exhibit, I ran a one-color background shape across all of the panels. I derived the background from a panoramic image of the Providence skyline, stitched together from several hundred photos.

↑ Waterfront section, with “skyline” in background.

We organized the design proposals into five groups. Panels were color-coded by group. Since the exhibit needed to move from place to place, it takes a modular form, each panel capable of standing alone or as part of a set. Groups of related projects can slide side-by-side, visually connected by a band of color across the bottom of panels. When seen from a distance, the panels can begin to look like the Jewelry District skyline that inspired their shapes.

↑ Greenway section, four projects on three panels.