Blueprints at Addison Circle

{{Short description|Outdoor sculpture in Addison, Texas}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}

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{{Infobox artwork

| image_file =

| image_size = 300px

| title = Blueprints at Addison Circle

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| artist = Michael Van Valkenburgh and Mel Chin

| year = 2000

| type = steel

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| height_imperial = 43

| width_imperial = 140

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| metric_unit = m

| imperial_unit = ft

| city = Addison, Texas

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| coordinates = {{Coord|32.96140|-96.82594|display=title, inline|region:US-TX_type:landmark}}

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Blueprints at Addison Circle is a steel sculpture located in Addison, Texas officially unveiled on April 13, 2000.{{Cite web|url=https://www.atlasobscura.com/itineraries/6-ways-to-absorb-addison-texas-arts-and-culture|title=6 Ways to Absorb Addison, Texas' Arts and Culture|first=Hoda|last=Emam|website=Atlas Obscura}} It is one of approximately 20 works of public art throughout the town.{{Cite web|url=https://www.dallasnews.com/sponsored/2022/08/09/addison-is-a-small-town-big-on-public-art/|title=Addison is a small town big on public art|date=August 9, 2022|website=Dallas News |access-date=January 10, 2024}}

Addison Circle and the surrounding area was built in 1997 to create a more traditional walkable urban town center;{{Cite web|url=https://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/TX-02-GF9|title=Addison Circle|date=February 2, 2023|website=SAH ARCHIPEDIA}}{{cite news |title=Mel Chin and Michael Van Valkenburgh: Blueprints at Addison Circle, Addison, Texas |url=

http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/504892603 |access-date=5 January 2024 |work=Sculpture |date=December 2000 |pages=14–15|via = Wikipedia Library (paywall)}} it is a {{convert|133|ft|m|adj=mid|-diameter}} roundabout. The sculpture inside the traffic circle consists of 25 poles and five panels. It weighs {{convert|410000|lb|kg}} and required {{convert|650|USgal|L|lk=out}} of custom "Sharpie blue" paint.{{Cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/highsm.28892/|title=The "Blueprints" steel sculpture in Addison Circle, an urban park in Addison, Texas, a Dallas suburb|website=Library of Congress|access-date=7 January 2024}} The work is more than 4 stories high and {{convert|140|ft|m}} across. It was designed by artist Mel Chin in conjunction with landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh and with the aid of LeMessurier Consultants, and was fabricated and erected by Big D Metalworks of Dallas. The poles weighing {{convert|9000|lb|kg}} were made in Houston, Texas and the tapered cones at the top of the poles were made in New Jersey. Total cost for the sculpture was $2.1 million.{{cite news |title=Masterpiece of the month: 'Blueprints' at Addison Circle |url=https://www.dallasnews.com/news/2015/06/29/masterpiece-of-the-month-blueprints-at-addison-circle/ |access-date=4 January 2024 |work=The Dallas Morning News |date=29 June 2015 |language=en}} The nighttime lighting was designed by Stephen Bernstein of Cline Bettridge Bernstein Lighting Design.[https://web.archive.org/web/20110707160058/http://www.archlighting.com/industry-news.asp?sectionID=0&articleID=452791 Liao, Alice "Blueprint Special" Architectural Lighting Magazine, April 2, 2002]

The sculpture is said to resemble the branching pattern of a grove of oak trees. The panels follow a design using actual blueprints from Addison's municipal buildings, parks, bridges, and water pumping facilities. Of the work Chin said “I chose to represent in this the physical representation of blueprints, the infrastructure that you don’t see—and to celebrate the ideas floating above you.”

{{wide image|File:Addison circle park panorama.jpg|940px|dir=rtl|Addison Circle Park Pavilion and Blueprints}}

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