Workers install hexagonal tiles into the sea wall at Snug Harbor Gardens, which will create eco-friendly substrate for oysters to get a start. Photos by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star
By Patrick Sherry
Boynton Beach’s Art in Public Places program, which has placed murals, sculptures and other artwork around the city, recently found an unusual place to leave its cultural mark — on a condominium’s sea wall.
Snug Harbor Gardens Condominium was required to contribute to the city’s public art program because of the construction cost of its new sea wall on the west side of the Intracoastal Waterway north of Woolbright Road. But rather than just make a cash payment into the city’s fund to help cover the cost of some future artwork, the sea wall’s contractor had his own idea for what — and where — art could be.
Designed as a sprouting mangrove, with patterns mimicking the rise and fall of tides, the contractor’s proposal used Snug Harbor’s new sea wall as a canvas for an environmental art piece that would also attract marine life and improve coastal shoreline defenses.
“There’s not much art you could do on a sea wall, but I like how that proposal [adds] ecological enhancements to the area, and it eventually can improve the ecosystem,” said Karina Maldonado, a member of the city’s Art Advisory Board that unanimously approved the project. “I think it was a very creative thing for them to do.”
Snug Harbor’s new sea wall artwork uses 100 hexagonal tiles in a sculptural arrangement, with the work done by APH Marine Construction — the company that built the sea wall.
APH started construction of the sea wall in July, said Arthur Tiedeman, company vice president. APH promotes the construction of hybrid sea walls that combine the walls’ hard structure with environmental enhancements to improve coastal protection.
The hexagonal tiles used in the artwork are that extra protection. Although Tiedeman used the Snug Harbor tiles for art, he wants to convince future clients that adding the ecological tiles to their sea walls are worth the extra expense. In December, he installed another hybrid sea wall with mangrove planters and reef arches at a home on Marlin Drive in Ocean Ridge.
Tiedeman explained that these installations are meant to convey how important natural ecosystems are to protecting shorelines, and the sprouting mangrove represents a new beginning.
“We want our community to hear the message of the importance of the intertidal zone and mangroves in front of hardened shorelines,” Tiedeman said. “We want to represent a new beginning — the adoption of a new way of building infrastructure with the environment in mind.”
In Ocean Ridge, mangrove planters were installed on one home’s sea wall.
The tiles mimic reef structures that oysters and other marine life can latch on to as the tide rolls in and out — lapping up against the sea wall attachments. Protruding spikes create deep crevices that protect creatures from predators. As marine life grows on the structure, the sea wall’s art design will become more distinct. As a finishing touch, Tiedeman and his team hand-carved the phrase “Protect the Tide” on the top of the sea wall.
The city’s Art in Public Places program, which started in 2005, has helped create notable art pieces throughout Boynton Beach. Those include the 40-foot-tall Cavalcade sculpture downtown at the 500 Ocean complex at Federal Highway and Ocean Avenue, and the stainless steel, moving Reflections sculpture near City Hall. Recently, as part of the program, city officials selected designs from multiple local artists with plans to transform traffic boxes into public art.
With the Snug Harbor sea wall construction costing about $600,000, developers had the option to pay into the city’s Public Art Fund or create an on-site art piece. Residents and the construction team chose to use $4,000 to commission a visually appealing design that is part of the sea wall.
“I had to come up with a meaningful art design — something that people passing by on a boat or people on the bridge could be drawn to, understand and respect,” Tiedeman said.
Part of the Snug Harbour installation will resemble a mangrove leaf cluster.
Along with the art piece, the sea wall is meant to last 100 years. The oysters and other wildlife that grow on the tiles will transform the structure into a living barrier that is more resilient than standard sea walls, Tiedeman said. Not only that, the marine life will help improve water quality and biodiversity by creating a new habitat.
Snug Harbor resident Michael Slobodkin, who helped vet APH Marine Construction, is happy with how the whole sea wall project turned out.
“I think it’s much better looking than the old cement walls that are all around,” Slobodkin said. “I think all these old sea walls are going to have to be replaced, and this is very appealing to look at from the water.”
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