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The “Barnes Dance” graphics
at 7th and H streets, NW.

Photo © Lauren Landau/DCist, courtesy of Charles Bergen

DetailsDC
DetailsDC

The Architect

as Public Artist

by G. Martin Moeller, Jr., Assoc. AIA
Bike racks at the 8th Street Arts Park. Photo © Greg Staley
After practicing architecture in DC for more than 25 years, Charles
Bergen decided to focus his creative impulses on public art. Among
his recent projects are two colorful, vibrant works, both of which
incorporate images of animals—a favored theme of the artist.
One is a “Barnes Dance” graphic at the intersection of 7th and H
streets, NW, in Chinatown, while the other is a series of pieces for
a small public plaza in the Brookland neighborhood.

Dragon Dance

A “Barnes Dance,” also known as a pedestrian scramble, is a street
crossing system that allows pedestrians to cross an intersection in
all directions at once—including diagonally—while vehicular traf-
fic is stopped. Bergen won a competition sponsored by a group of
DC government agencies for street graphics intended to highlight
one such crossing near the Chinatown Arch. Bergen’s design, exe-
cuted in collaboration with artist Brandon Bailey and completed in
2016, incorporates silhouettes of animals from the Chinese zodiac
in the perpendicular crosswalks, along with brightly colored drag-
ons in the diagonals. The dragon tails were carefully positioned to
curl around manhole covers, which had to remain uncovered. The
graphics were applied using a thermoplastic coating, rather than
paint, to ensure durability.

Dance Place Arts Park
Bergen also worked on the conversion of an asphalt-paved alley
next to Dance Place, a dance school at 8th and Kearny streets, NE,
into a neighborhood Arts Park. Because the alley provides emer-
gency access to the train tracks behind the school, no permanent
fixtures could block the central swath of the pavement. Bergen’s
contributions to the park included functional artworks such as a row
of bike racks, a bicycle repair station, and a water sprinkler in the
shape of a turtle, for which the artist personally made the wooden Turtle-shaped sprinkler at the 8th Street Arts Park. Photo © Greg Staley
formwork used to cast the animal out of marine-grade fiberglass. DETAILSDC 13