Moving Forward, by Indianapolis-based architect Donna Sink, is a series of seven eco-friendly transit shelters that showcase original, site-sensitive poetry by published authors who have ties to Indiana. Each shelter is composed of 3-Form Eco-Resin panels, which are made of 40% post-industrial re-grind content, mounted in a stainless steel frame. The shelters are installed on TX Active concrete pads, which help reduce many pollutants deemed harmful to human health and the environment through a photocatalytic process.

Each shelter was conceived as a method for allowing poets to participate in the public art program of the Indianapolis Cultural Trail, A Legacy of Gene and Marilyn Glick. A call for poetry was released and entries adjudicated by a panel of professionals selected by the Writers’ Center of Indiana. Each shelter has part of the poem embedded in the resin panels, while the entire poem is legible on one of the shelter side panels.

The designer explains, “The design intent is that the sun will illuminate the colored graphic and cast the shadow of the words on the sidewalk. This temporal, immaterial rendering references the poem’s existence as idea, not object. It also relates the work to the seasonal changing of the sun’s angle in relation to the human body on the sidewalk.”

Selected poems and their respective shelter locations are:

“Invisible Movements,” by Karen Kovacik:  Virginia Ave. near McCarty St.

“The Painters,” by Richard Pflum:  Virginia Ave. near Woodlawn Ave.

“The Bowl of Possible Peas,” by John Sherman:  Virginia Ave. near Lexington Ave.

“Circle, Chorus,” by Mitchell Douglas:  Washington St. west of Illinois St.

“Settlement,” by Micah Ling:  Washington St. outside the Eiteljorg & Indiana State museums

“Art with a Heart,” by Vienna Wagner:  Massachusetts Ave. at Walnut and Park

“Our Street in Endless Circles,” by Jenny Browne:  Massachusetts Ave. east of College Ave.

Donna Sink is an Indianapolis-based architect who is interested in innovative and sustainable design solutions. In addition to designing residential and commercial spaces, Sink has extensive experience in exhibition design. Sink received her Bachelors of Architecture from the University of Arizona and her Masters of Architecture from Cranbook Academy of Art. She has worked at architecture firms throughout the country and in Europe, and was formerly a partner at MW Harris Architecture and Design in Indianapolis, IN.

The Indianapolis Cultural Trail: A Legacy of Gene & Marilyn Glick is an 8-mile, world-class urban bike and pedestrian path in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana. The Indianapolis Cultural Trail seamlessly connects neighborhoods, cultural districts and entertainment amenities while serving as the downtown hub for central Indiana’s vast greenway system.

Read more about the Moving Forward project here.