Contact:
Eric Sloss
412-268-5765

For immediate release:
June 22, 2006

Carnegie Mellon Students and Alumna Create Light Installation for Braddock, Pa.

PITTSBURGH—An interdisciplinary design team of Carnegie Mellon University students installed a text-based artwork of lighting in the city of Braddock, Pa. Dubbed the Ohringer Project, the light installation illuminates the top four corner windows of the Ohringer Building, the tallest building in Braddock.

Each of the four large windows displays a contour line image of a structure in Braddock and illuminates a letter from inside with professional lighting. The letters change between "D-O-C-K" and "D-O-C-C," representing the often-misspelled word Braddock, which is sometimes spelled "Braddocc" by its younger residents.

The Carnegie Mellon team included School of Design alumna Rebecca Bortman (A'06); Nkechi Ebubedike, a School of Art student; and Jebediah Feldman, a graduate student in the Master of Arts Management program at the H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management. They collaborated with lighting expert Jarrett Buba, a Braddock resident, and Braddock Mayor John Fetterman to realize the city's vision of attracting a creative group of people to Braddock.

The Ohringer Building, an eight-story structure, was once a furniture store. Since its days as a retail outlet, the windows have been covered by thick glass blocks. With its height and history, the building seemed a natural venue for the lighting project. Braddock is a historic factory town located along the Monongahela River, less than 10 miles from downtown Pittsburgh.

The lighting installation is supported by Carnegie Mellon's School of Design, the STUDIO for Creative Inquiry and the mayor of Braddock. For more information about the Ohringer Project or the College of Fine Arts, contact Eric Sloss at 412-268-5765 or ecs@andrew.cmu.edu.