A sandstone boulder seemingly hovering 30 feet in the air soon will mark the middle of Block 57, Salt Lake City's most central, and controversial, block.
Thursday afternoon, city officials unveiled a model of the $200,000 sculpture chosen as the central landmark in a public plaza on the block, located between 200 South and 300 South and between Main and State streets.Titled "Asteroid Landed Softly," the work will balance a 15-ton rock atop a reflective glass cylinder. The rock is meant to remind people of Arches National Park. The sculptor, Kazuo Mat-su-ba-yashi, said he hopes to create an illusion.
"When you look at it, you will see clouds and sky reflected," he said. "So it will look like the rock is floating."
At the bottom, the sculpture will feature a sundial that tells the time of day as well as the month, state holidays and the change of seasons.
The art will be paid through a donation from Utah Power, said Alice Steiner, director of the city redevelopment agency.
City officials also outlined plans for the rest of the $5.5 million tax-supported plaza. They include sculptures, art and other amenities. The plaza will fill the northern half of the block's interior.
Among other things, the plaza will feature an aviary, a plant-sculpture garden, a wall to be filled with art by local elementary school students, a story wall featuring a American Indian legend or myth and a pond that will be used for skating in the winter.
Steiner said she hopes the project will be completed by May 1, 1993.
Redevelopment officials have been criticized for much of the past decade for their handling of projects on the block. Most recently, problems with an underground parking garage and last-minute changes in the design of a public activity building on the plaza have led to millions of dollars in added expenses.
Tom Godfrey, a city councilman and a member of the agency's board of directors, said the finished plaza will make up for all the trouble.
"The whole block is the aesthetic centerpiece of our city," he said.
Steiner said the plaza will be filled with sculptures of varying sizes.
"There will be a lot of little places to discover," she said. "This won't be a boring place."