Alternative sidewalk design explores eco-friendly, minimally invasive ways to pave pathways for pedestrians. Artists take the concept in another direction and create a temporary reprieve from the daily grind by offering interactive spaces for play and pondering. Sometimes they’re in the concrete jungle, and other times new spaces are created in unlikely locations, allowing pedestrians to explore the terrain. The sidewalk becomes the art itself. We recently told you about a giant trampoline sidewalk, and it inspired us to search for other impressive and imaginative “sidewalk” art. See what happens when quiet footpaths, bridge walkways, city streets, and other places people tread are made over.
Photo via inhabitat
Photo via inhabitat
We mentioned the 170-foot trampoline walkway by Estonian firm Salto Architects in our Most Imaginative Design of 2012 roundup. Fast Track gives curious pedestrians in Nikola-Lenivets, Russia an extra spring in their step, allowing them to perceive their environment in an entirely new way.
Photo via Colossal
Photo via Colossal
Artist Bored created this larger-than-life Monopoly game in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood. “The goal of this entire project has been to present something different than a stencil painted on the ground or a poster pasted to a wall. Something 3-dimensional that can be picked up, beaten down, kicked, yanked, grabbed, and broken. And if someone ever put forth the effort to remove it, like a weed it will always grow back. And if left alone it will evolve into something different.”
Photo via Trendhunter
The Sidewalk Tetherball Project by Matt Richardson and Ben Light inspired passersby to take a swat at the yellow ball fixed to a parking sign. They documented the curious, confused, and playful pedestrians who interacted with the game during their busy commute.
Photo via Architizer
Photo via Architizer
We’re in love with this fantastical roller coaster walkway in Duisburg, Germany. It’s a 70-foot stretch of carnival-inspired fun that makes walking down the street seem entirely bland.
Photo via InfraBodies
Design team Electroland (Cameron McNall and Damon Seeley) creates interactive installations and other large-scale public art projects, like Lightspan. Think of it as a giant mood ring for your feet. The Memphis installation registered people’s actions along a nearly 200-foot long walkway and turned them into a colorful spectacle.
Photo via Green Dump
Residents of Bourges, France felt the earth move when they came across an installation by artists at the National Superior School of Art. What could easily be mistaken for a speed bump was actually a soft, water-filled cushion of bricks that attracted people (and adorable dogs) to surf the sidewalk.
Photos via Designboom
Photos via Designboom
A few months ago we told you about this concept design for a bouncy walkway across the Seine River in Paris. Studio AZC won a competition for their plans to (hopefully!) build an inflatable trampoline bridge.
Photo via Colossal
Photo via Colossal
Michael McGillis channeled his inner Log Lady and created a wooden walkway at the Franconia Sculpture Park in Shafer, Minnesota. The structure was made from a 95-foot long path of trees painted purple. It’s subtle enough to be a believable quirk of nature.
Photo via Newlaunches
Artist Sven Beyer created this interactive, LED footpath, Onskebronn (Norwegian for “wishing well”), for performance art collective Phase 7 in a Berlin train station. Real-time technology tracked people along their walk with moving patterns and images. Commuters created sounds when they exited the trains and stepped onto the platform.
Photo via ArchiExpo
Photo via Architizer
The Loopgraafbrug walkway in Halsteren, Holland at Fort de Roovere is nicknamed the Moses Bridge, and it’s easy to see why. The sunken structure submerges pedestrians in a wooden pathway so they can actually walk on water. It also recalls the history of the West Brabant Water Line, which was a defensive point between villages and Spanish/French invaders during the 17th century.
Photo credit: Luzinterruptus
Photo credit: Luzinterruptus
We discovered more incredible work from anonymous guerrilla art group, Luzinterruptus, on website MOCO. Their subtle, thought-provoking light installations spotlight various urban issues in public spaces, “leaving the lights on in protest.” These particular sidewalk artworks commented on environmental pollution. We’ve also written about their wonderful 10,000-book installation.
Photo credit: Patricia Almeida
Photo credit: Patricia Almeida
Photographer Patrícia Almeida captured this colorful umbrella installation along a sidewalk in Águeda, Portugal, which we found thanks to Bored Panda. The artist behind the public work seems to be a mystery, but that doesn’t stop us from being completely charmed by it.
Photo credit: Art & Perception
Photo credit: Will Campbell
Artist Chris Burden took over the sidewalks around the Los Angeles County Museum of Art with his work, Urban Light, made from 200 salvaged cast-iron lampposts from the 1920s and 1930s.
Photo via Co.Design
New media collective Luftwerk transformed Anish Kapoor’s iconic sculpture Cloud Gate in Chicago’s Millennium Park into a dazzling, interactive sound installation. Neon lights and colorful patterns reflect off the mirrored surface of the massive artwork, lighting up the sidewalk for pedestrians in exhilarating ways.
Photo via Huff Post
Photo via Huff Post
We would be remiss to not actually include sidewalk art made the old-fashioned way. These creations from Julian Beever and Edgar Mueller take chalky murals to the next level, creating heart-stopping, 3D illusions for people to traverse.