The Boulder Public Art Program has selected artist Matthew Mazzotta to create an original artwork for the future Western City Campus Plaza in Boulder, Colorado. Located behind the pavilion at Broadway and Alpine, the plaza will feature a single site-specific artwork. The commission budget is approximately $300,000 USD.
COHABITAT -- Narrative
During COVID, when fewer people were traveling the streets and sidewalks, headlines quickly picked up on local wildlife reinhabiting urban spaces—a phenomenon that intrigued many and sparked larger discussions about our shared planet. COHABITAT plays out this scenario of animals inhabiting human environments, creating a wondrous scene for the new campus in Boulder.
The new Western City Campus building provides an open and welcoming space for local residents to conduct business. The design of the building and plaza takes Boulder’s remarkable landscape as its theme, highlighting the Flatiron Mountains and local flora. COHABITAT completes the image of Boulder’s beautiful and celebrated landscape by adding whimsical fauna—the fox.
Located at the inner heart of the campus, the plaza is nestled between the buildings and offers a sheltered respite from wind and sun for local residents—and in this case, a playful fox. The immersive sculpture highlights the fragile line between human and wildlife habitats, blending nature and the built environment and illuminating the reality that we inherently share this home with other creatures on the planet.
The architect’s design takes inspiration from natural elements, including the mountains, rocks, plants, and water. The fox playing in the landscape of wildflowers, native grasses, and shrubs further enhances the site—the fox is surrounded by local plants that stay colorful and maintain their volume all year round. While the flowers create a welcoming place to sit within the plaza, the fox sculpture complements the palette of the surrounding buildings.
Additionally, the fox’s tail sways gently in the wind, adding a subtle movement to the site, imparting a playful atmosphere and softening the tall vertical lines of the surrounding architecture.
COHABITAT is an artwork that is whimsical and aesthetically beautiful, yet offers multiple interpretations and layers of depth. The artwork appeals to the sophisticated sensibilities of Boulder audiences and their understanding of art, design, ecology, inclusion, and identity, while providing a fun and iconic image of playfulness, nature, and home. The fox’s engaged posture symbolizes the activities happening inside the building—being driven and proactive while accomplishing our tasks with joy.
Alpine-Balsam Western City Campus
In 2015, the City of Boulder purchased the Alpine-Balsam property, formerly Boulder Community Health (BCH) hospital, for redevelopment. The reimagined site will provide new affordable and market-rate homes in a range of housing types and will be the future location of the Western City Campus to serve city customers and house municipal functions. It will include new indoor and outdoor public spaces, new streets and paths, sustainable solutions for infrastructure and buildings, increased tree canopy, a greenway for flood conveyance, easy-to-use travel options and managed parking. For more details, visit the Western City Campus project webpage.