K International, Inc.
DuSable
Park Project
"Crystal Dream"
Defining Our Design and Centerpiece, Crystal Dream, of DuSable Park, Chicago, Illinois
Two millenniums,
twenty centuries of bigone eras, are now behind us and yet it was only
a mere 229 years ago that a non native named Jean Babtiste Pointe DuSable
established himself and carved a wilderness outpost near this very site.
So much has happened since then. Just south of this site, in 1933, we
hailed ourselves and our accomplishment with a fair and named it "A
Century of Progress".
A century
of progress? This last century proved to be perhaps the most dramatic
of all centuries, from wittnessing the rise and the wreckage of vast empires,
horrific wars, carnage, and the most wastefull abuse of our enviroment,
to our most humane discoveries in medicine, technology, and the far reaches
of outer space.
In a time
when DuSable arrived here his destiny and that of mankind was very much
dependent on the Earth, but in this new millennium the tables have begun
to turn and it is mankind who may now control the destiny of Earth.
Thus we have entered the third millennium. Behind us; a century of horrific
and humane times and inventions. Before us; the unknown, a clean page
to write our history. It can be the birth of a most heavenly dream for
our Earth and for the spirit of man.
Our Proposed
Design
Our proposal
for the DuSable Park project is intended to symbolize the building of
dreams, one upon another, our Earth, and a united mankind entering the
new millennium all placed in the forefront of what Chicago once was, a
wild virgin prairie.
Along the
west perimeter will be an arched façade designed to conceal the
lower structural supports of Lake Shore Drive, yet lend itself to the
city's architecture beyond. This façade will house two of the three
park entrances, one to the north and one at the southern bridge abutment.
The third entrance, accessible from the walkway of lower Lake Shore Drive,
will give immediate access to the summit of our rolling prairie hill.
Located at all three entries to the park will be a limestone relief done
in the likeness of DuSable with the words Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable,
1745-1818, accompanied by a bronze plaque giving a brief history about
Mr. DuSable and ending with; "DuSable Park, founded 1772, established
2001. At the threshold of this center entry will be an additional DuSable
symbol, two simple moccasin imprints, to remind us DuSable once stood
near here and made his decision to stay and leave his signature, Chicago's
beginning.
As a backdrop
for our sculpture we have retained the simple meadow, with prairie grass
and wild flowers native to Illinois, a sort of natural haven from the
structured city. Using the earth on site we have reshaped it into one
gently rolling, easy to navigate, hill, which symbolizes the vast rolling
prairies of Illinois. In time, the people who come to enjoy this park
will create the pathways naturally. In the foreground, serving as a welcoming
beacon to all who come to our Chicago, will be DuSable's jubilee, "Crystal
Dream", highlighted by what we all know and love most dearly; water.
A 400-foot (122 meter) long, 8-foot (2.5 meter) tall palisade of falling
water located along, and flowing over, the entire length of the easterly
seawall.
Sculpture:
"Crystal Dream"
In the center
of our composition is the crystal ball, a personification of the Superior
Dream, a dream of the inner purity of our one and only Earth, the planet
of mankind. In defience, or perhaps the result of our past events, it
appears we, the people of our Earth, have begun to crystalize in our global
thinking and struggle towards one race of humans.
Like our
Earth, this sphere too will respond in the most unpredictable and fascinating
ways; focusing, transferring, and reflecting the world of life, motion,
light, and water that surrounds it.
As we admire
this perfect, clear, shining sphere and gaze in fascination, the sun,
moon, and man-made light will refract and dance upon its surface into
the spectrum. One can only liken the Crystal Dream to our perfect Earth
with all its inner and outer pressures, pressures we are so often unaware
of.
Crystal cubes and flowing shapes perform their light composition, delicately
touching, climbing, and building upon the surface of the ball creating
the illusion of being man-made, added, yet still a structural part of
the globe's makeup.
This crystal composition rests on a bronze cone. From it's summit down,
this base consists of twenty-one circular steps - representing twenty-one
centuries. The rings are carved with figures of people, all races, all
religions, all united in a circle of life. The number of figures increase,
just as our Earths population increases. To mark our Earth's passage in
time our crystal composition will complete one revolution every 24 hours.
Depending
on your point of view, you may see a great piece of jewelery; a precious
diamond, our world, resting atop a golden crown, mankind's civilization,
or perhaps you will see the dreamlike vessel Earth, sailing through space
and time on its way into the 21st century, the 3rd millenium.
Technologies
of the 19th century enabled Gustoff Eiffel to create, for all time, a
symbol to sum up his century; The Century of Iron. Only now, at the threshold
of our new millenium, is the technology available for us to create our
symbol of an era, an era of information, unity, and higher technologies.
Just as Jean Babtiste Pointe DuSable may have dreamed of a new world, bright and pure, like the soul of the Earth itself, we too can hold the same dreams to be true, for dreams are truly the fuel of hope.
K International, Inc.
Patrick T.
King, McHenry, Illinois
Michael Reva, Odessa, Ukraine
Serge Seredny, Odessa, Ukraine
"Crystal
Dream"
Designer/Sculptor:
Michael Reva, Odessa, Ukraine
reva@eurocom.od.ua
Photo/Design
Coordinator: Patrick T. King, McHenry, Illinois
patrick@kii-usa.com
Digital/Photo
Visions: Serge Seredny, Odessa, Ukraine
reva@eurocom.od.ua
Special Thanks to: Citizens Democracy Corps located in Washington, DC and Odessa, Ukraine
All Images and design rights are reserved. No part of this presentation may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without written permission from K International, Inc. U.S.A.
LINK
TO SIGNATURE IN TIME PROJECT