Lighting is concentrated on architectural and landscape elements giving focus to the artwork. The artwork consists of a 110 foot / 33.5 meter wide sandstone wall featuring Senator Kennedy’s portrait and engraved with inspiring quotations from Kennedy and other advocates of social justice, as well as a parallel 24 foot / eight meter wide stainless steel wall with a cut-out symbolizing a ripple in the water connoting Kennedy’s “Ripples of Hope” speech. The sandstone wall is illuminated by shielded, inground metal halide uplights. Layering of light is achieved via inground linear fluorescent sources which accentuate the expression of the ripple in the stainless steel wall. The surrounding fiber optic luminaires which are embedded in blue glass pavement fulfill the artists’ vision and “twinkle” slightly thanks to a sparkle wheel creating a sense of movement and dynamism. The layout reiterates the constellation patterns from the night of Robert F. Kennedy’s birth.

Project team:

Landscape architects: AHBE Landscape Architects

Design/Executive architects: Gonzalez Goodale Architects

Historic architects: Tetra-IBI Group, David Kaplan

Artists: May Sun, Richard Wyatt Jr. (walls), Bobby Carlyle (statue)

Lighting Design: HLB Lighting Design – Tina Aghassian, Crystal Chen-Lim, Alexis Schlemer

Water feature consultant: JOMA Design Studio

Electrical engineering: TMAD Taylor & Gaines

Photo: Henri Khodaverdi