Bus stop goes green

By Gary Norwood Hermann and Laura Karr

Students can now experience art while waiting for the bus or walking to class, thanks to UK almuni.

UK, Prajna Construction & Design and local non-profit group Art in Motion joined forces with other community groups to reconstruct a local transit shelter at Euclid Avenue and Linden Walk. The finished product, “Garden Stop,” was dedicated Sept. 21.

Prajna faced strong competition in its bid for the project. In February 2010, Art in Motion, LexTran, the Aylesford Place

Neighborhood Association and Lex Arts, along with UK’s Wiseman and Broeking, held an open design competition for the bus stop, a press release said. They received more than 15 entries from top design firms, as well as UK landscape design students, and awarded a cash prize to the winner.

All members of the Prajna team were alumni of the UK College of Design.

“I love the way it worked out,” Prajna employee Garry Murphy said. “I hope the university sees some value in the project and will commit others to like it.”

“Garden Stop” is the fifth bus stop that Prajna has designed for Lexington. The goal of this project was to highlight the work of local artists, local designers, local materials and local craftsman, a press release said. Their design concept came from the idea of a run-in shed that can be seen throughout the landscape of the bluegrass area with a contemporary twist.

The bus stop was also an enviromentalist attempt to incorporate the vegetation that surrounds the stop and the materials used, the release said. The columns and beams used are 99 percent recycled content, the roof is made with salvaged/ antique white oak beams, standard dimensional framing lumber and advantek sheathing.

The “Green Roof” is a green grid grown locally with sedum plants and blooming sedums and aloes.  A portion of the ceiling is made from rubble from demolished homes in the Lexington area. Other parts of the bus stop include materials from barn timbers in Franklin County, native walnut harvested in Jessamine County and a bourbon distillery in Lawrenceburg that was demolished in the 1980s.

UK donated $12,000 to the project under the direction of vice president of Facilities Managment stakeholder Bob Wiseman, a press release said. Lance Broeking, also with Facilities Management, was the UK representative on the project.

The bus stop will not be the last funded by UK.

“UK has made a verbal commitment to help fund another art shelter at the corner of Rose and Euclid in the next fiscal year,” Art in Motion president Yvette Hurt said. “We’ve already done some preliminary planning and hope to make it a real show piece that will celebrate the nationally recognized art and music programs that are housed just a short walk from that corner.”