reVITALise Public Art Concept

Status: Stage 1 concept design completed. The project was subsequently deferred by the City and remains unbuilt.

Trade Arts was engaged by the City of Coffs Harbour to develop the first design stage of a proposed public artwork by artist Belem Lett. The brief required more than a compelling form: the concept had to respond to a constrained urban site, preserve the artist's visual language and establish a realistic pathway toward fabrication and installation.

Working with the artist and the wider project team, Trade Arts developed the preferred direction into a coherent modular system, tested colour and material options, considered public-safety and anti-climb constraints, and mapped the early fabrication and coordination logic needed for a future technical stage.

The challenge

The artwork occupied a narrow, highly visible public setting with complex interfaces between walls, awnings, stairs, pedestrian movement and existing architecture. The design needed to read as one continuous gesture while being capable of subdivision into practical fabricated components. It also had to avoid creating obvious handholds, climbable surfaces or unsafe projections.

The response

The preferred concept converted the artist's flowing linework into a family of repeated angular sections that could be developed as modular fabricated elements. A terracotta-led colour direction gave the work a distinct civic presence while avoiding a generic retail red. The system was considered across the central wall, secondary surfaces and overhead conditions, with scale, rhythm, fixing zones, handling and installation sequence informing the design from the outset.

Trade Arts' contribution

• Interpreted and developed the artist's concept without taking over authorship.
• Coordinated artistic, architectural, client and fabrication requirements.
• Developed the preferred geometry, material direction and modular breakdown.
• Tested colour and finish options against the site.
• Incorporated preliminary safety, anti-climb, maintenance and installation considerations.
• Prepared a polished Stage 1 package establishing the pathway to technical documentation, engineering, procurement and fabrication.

Outcome

The completed Stage 1 package gave the City and project team a resolved preferred direction and a credible basis for a future technical-development stage. The City later deferred the artwork before Stage 2, so the concept remains unbuilt. The project demonstrates Trade Arts' ability to translate ambitious artistic intent into a practical, multidisciplinary public-art delivery strategy.

Project credits

• Project: reVITALise Public Art — Park Avenue bus interchange and pedestrian walkway, Coffs Harbour
• Client: City of Coffs Harbour
• Artist: Belem Lett
• Trade Arts role: concept development, design coordination, fabrication strategy and technical translation
• Status: Stage 1 completed; project deferred; unbuilt
• Year: 2026