DEL.ICIO.USSculptor transforms trash into eco-friendly art
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sunday, October 26, 2008
A sculptor descends on a commercial development site and the brawny, hard-hatted workers sneer at him. But after a while, they marvel at his work.
Rebar has never looked so good.
CURTIS COMPTON / ccompton@ajc.com
Artist Dwayne Bass of Decatur scavenges a discarded dowel basket from a waste bin recently behind the Braselton Logistics Center, where he created three towers jutting from the ground. Bass uses on-site materials to build sculptures to help the developer score LEED points.
CURTIS COMPTON / ccompton@ajc.com
Bass assembles a sculpture that will consist of a series of towers made out of materials used to support concrete floors, wire mesh and rebar.
CURTIS COMPTON / ccompton@ajc.com
Artist Dwayne Bass, 35, erects a sculpture made from construction waste scavenged on site at the Braselton Logistics Center.
A 440,000-square-foot warehouse distribution center opening at the end of the month in Braselton will be adorned by sculpture made solely from construction waste.
It’s unique in that an artist has helped an Atlanta developer win an innovation point toward LEED certification. That means that the U.S. Green Building Council is assuring the project meets Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards, the national benchmark for eco-friendly design and construction.
Dwayne Bass, 35, a former photographer turned artist, gave new meaning to what we all hold true: One man’s trash is another’s treasure.
He scavenged the Dumpsters on the construction site and created — out of rebar, bolsters and twisted, mangled dowel baskets used to support concrete flooring — three towers jutting from the earth at different angles.
What might have been dumped in a recycling center or, worse, buried in a landfill, now arches upward to the heavens and welcomes visitors to the massive distribution center on Braselton Highway.
“This is innovative use of recyclable materials on site,” said J. Scot Macrae, vice president of Fowler Designs, the architects. “There are very few warehouses that are LEED-certified.”
Green council spokeswoman Lauren Connelly said she had never come across sculpture made on site from waste materials, though educational artwork like murals have been used before to earn LEED points.
Bass’ interest in recycling construction waste piqued several months ago when he came across mounds of crushed marble at a recycling center.
He liked the idea of using waste materials to sculpt but could not get anyone interested until he met Dave Radlmann of Commonwealth Commercial Properties, LLC.
Radlmann, 35, was immersed in green projects before green became in vogue. He was the construction manager at Glenwood Park, an environmentally friendly development off I-20 in East Atlanta.
When Commonwealth Properties decided to spread green in the industrial sector, Bass’ sculpture idea proved intriguing.
“Recycling is not as great as reusing,” Bass said. “When you reuse, you don’t have to haul it off somewhere. You don’t have to spend energy to break it all down. I couldn’t believe no one had done this before. It’s so obvious.”
The $20 million warehouse center would have cutting-edge T5 fluorescent lighting instead of energy-draining metal halide lamps, bike racks and a wastewater irrigation system. The building’s design was even modified to save a 100-year-old pecan tree on one corner of the lot.
Across from the tree sits Bass’ creation that helped win one point — for innovation — out of the 23 needed for LEED certification.
Bass has already been asked to sculpt at two other Commonwealth construction sites in Savannah and Greenville, S.C., Radlmann said.
“People found it humorous that I was trying to do this,” he said about the art. But he hopes this project, which he believes is the first of its kind, will serve as incentive for other developers to create more eco-friendly industrial buildings.
For Bass it was “crazy” coming onto a commercial site as an artist. Everyone automatically assumed he didn’t know what he was doing.
“I guess art and construction companies don’t really go together,” Bass said as he hoisted one of the 50-pound towers in place, marveling at the intricate shadows cast on a cloudless day. The artist, naturally, took great pride in the aesthetic value of his eco-friendly work.
And the developer knew he would sleep better at night.
Services »
