The Battery Point Sculpture Trail. Winning a Merit in the 2012 SEGD (Society for Environmental Graphic Design) Global Design Awards The Battery Point Sculpture Trail is a permanent installation of nine sculptures along a walking route through Hobart, the capital city of Tasmania, Australia’s island state. The sculpture trail was conceived as a way to increase visitor movement along the foreshore, encourage exploration of the roads and paths, and raise awareness of the area’s history while giving equal balance to public art and interpretation.

The concept? “sculpture by numbers”: each sculpture presents a three-dimensional number (a variety of dates, times, quantities, weights, and measures) that explores one or two linked interpretive stories related to the location.

While each sculpture is different in form and material, they are unified by a single typeface family, Helvetica. Helvetica Neue the primary typeface—both for sculptural form and interpretive content—as its form lends itself to being constructed from a variety of materials and its clean lines do not detract from the materiality or interpretive content. A bold orange and gray graphic identity visually links each sculpture to the wayfinding signage.

The materials used and construction techniques relate to the stories for each location. For example, 1833, a steel frame filled with stacked sandstone fragments, was the completion date of the first stone warehouses at the New Wharf. 313, fabricated of modern boat-building materials by a professional shipwright, represents the number of vessels built in Battery Point and launched into the River Derwent between 1825 and 1872.

One of the sculptures uses solar-powered lighting, while another is a living topiary sculpture. Several others explore the theme of climate change. The project involved three public land owners, one private land owner, 22 sites, 12 different materials, and 20 fabricators—requiring careful design and coordination to maintain the integrity of the “sculpture by numbers” vision.

The 2013 SEGD Global Design Awards are currently open with Deadlines for entries in Jan 2013. Go here for more info to enter.

Pouarii Tanner