Camden Artwalls

The public art project commissioned by Camden properties for the exterior of its hip apartment homes needed to reflect both the history of Hollywood and its ultra cool clientele. The challenge is how to avoid cliché while communicating the birth of Hollywood motion pictures. The solution was to laser etch icons of filmmaking into the facade. Life-size images from the site’s past become part of the space, interacting with architectural elements and seemingly emerging from the facade, depending on the lighting and time of day. Custom illustrations were made to represent timeless characters of movie making; a film producer, an actress running from an unseen nemesis, a cowboy dressing for his scene, and a stunt person hanging precariously from a window. Each etched character has a plaque describing the historic significance of the location and encourages street level pedestrians to interact with the building in ways they may not normally.