Sponsors and Partners:
"Endless Summer"
Summer 2025 - Urban Heat
"Endless Summer" is the summer artwork and the second of the four public artworks that together create the "The Climate of Future Past" project.
The "Endless Summer" mural will be based in NoMa in a large open atrium that connects the Metropolitan Branch Trail to Florida Avenue through the Burton building and will be unveiled in June 2025. "Endless Summer" will shed light on the most dangerous and rising climate risk for Washington, DC: urban heat. This climate risk is especially acute for communities along the north-east rail and industrial corridor, like NoMa and Eckington. The concentration of rail infrastructure and industrial landuses in the area tends to exacerbate summer temperatures in nearby communities making some summer days feel up to 17 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than in more affluent and green neighborhoods in northwest DC. This dramatic temperature difference between communities creates environmental justice issues for communities in the hotter areas where health risks like chronic asthma are higher.
The "Endless Summer" mural will depict a beautiful and lush tropical forest enveloping and taking over a Washington, DC far into the future. The mural will beautify this "in-between" third space which, in hot summer days, tends to attract rail runners, bikers and local residents looking for a cool and shaded space to rest along the busy trail.
"Endless Summer" is made possible through the generous sponsorship of the space's owner: MRP Realty; and thanks to the support of the NoMa Business Improvement District.
"Endless Summer" (Sol dell'Avvenire) 2025 is underway and will be unveiled in June 2025
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"Endless Summer" lives on the wall of a large open atrium inside the Burton building connecting the Metropolitan Branch Trail to Florida Avenue in the NoMa neighborhood in Washington, DC.
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The concentration of rail and industrial uses and the lower incidence of urban green in Northeast DC translates in much higher summer temperatures for communities in the area like NoMa and Eckington. On hot summer days the temperature in Northeast DC's hottest neighborhoods can be higher than the temperature in more green neighborhoods in Northwest DC by 17 degree Fahrenheits.
The "bike lobby" where "Endless Summer" resides is a cooling space that is often used by residents and trail users to cool off and to get in shade which is at a premium on the trail. Thus, the mural and the bike lobby are both warnings about rising temperatures as well as offer a urban design and architectural solution to the issue of shade and cooler spaces. |