The summer meeting of the Mathematical Association of America, MathFest 2010, will be held Aug. 5-7 in Pittsburgh. The city has a wonderful array of public art and some spectacular architecture, making it an apt venue for excursions into mathematical art and more.
Four rectangular blocks add a colorful touch to the stark entrance to Wean Hall, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh.
With a distinct mathematical bias, here's my list of sites that I hope to visit and photograph while I'm in Pittsburgh for the meeting.
David L. Lawrence Convention Center: cable-suspended roof. The convention center itself is home to 25 artworks.
1000 Fort Duquesne Boulevard.
Wood Street T Station, Mezzanine Level.
Alcoa Corporate Center: undulating glass façade.
201 Isabella Street, North Shore between the Rachel Carson and Andy Warhol Bridges.
Sign of Light by Robert Wilson. A billboard consisting of more than 10,000 LEDs that paint a luminous. moving triangle.
Atop Penn Avenue Place facing the Allegheny River (visible from the North Side).
Cubed Tension by Sylvester Damianos. A rectangular prism bent to form a cube.
Allegheny Center, near the entrance to the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh Allegheny Regional Branch.
Allegheny Center, 10 Children's Way, Allegheny Square.
One Oliver Plaza, Rear Lobby, 210 Sixth Avenue.
PNC Bank Plaza, Fifth Avenue and Wood Street.
National City Center, 20 Stanwix Street.
PPG Place: glass spires; 44-foot-tall obelisk.
Fourth Avenue and Market Street.
Mellon Square.
Pennsylvanian: central dome skylight.
1100 Liberty Avenue, Liberty Avenue and Grant Street.
Union Trust Building: skylight.
501 Grant Street.
One Oxford Centre, Grant Street and Fourth Avenue.
Entrance to Carnegie Museum of Art, Forbes Avenue.
Kraus Campo by Mel Bochner and Michael Van Valkenburgh. Garden featuring a French curve piece covered in tile with number sequences.
Carnegie Mellon University, on top of the Posner Center.
University of Pittsburgh, Hillman Library Courtyard.
Hamerschlag Hall at Carnegie Mellon University, with the University of Pittsburgh's Cathedral of Learning in the background (right).
The Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council has excellent walking-tour guides that highlight a variety of artworks and structures downtown and in the Oakland neighborhood. Much of the information in this article comes from these guides.
Photos by I. Peterson
1 comment:
While you're at Carnegie Mellon, stop by the Gates Center for Computer Science and check out "Generation 243," a video exhibit created by Scott Draves from his Electric Sheep project. And if you come in the evening, see the 230-foot long Pausch footbridge connecting Gates to The Cut; the bridge's cutout panels are backlit by programmable LED lights.
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