iHeartTally
Tallahassee has grown from a small, territorial town into a progressive capital city since its establishment in 1824. Once the home of the Apalachee Indians and the site of the Spanish Mission San Luis, Tallahassee was selected to become the territorial capital city because of its location; approximately halfway between the former British capitals of East Florida in St. Augustine and West Florida in Pensacola.
KCCI’s 2017 Team is taking the popular #iHeartTally social media campaign and symbol a step further by creating a life-sized, 3-D visual representation of the hashtag where people can stand next to, take selfies, play, climb on or relax near the letters. The Team chose to place the sculpture in Tallahassee’s SoMo (South Monroe) District. As the emerging artistic area nestled between two Universities and downtown, this area is positioned as a gateway between an underrepresented neighborhood and vibrant downtown and it functions as a catalyst in the urban revitalization of the area.
Considering the rich railroad and industrial history present in the SoMo District, we focused the design on durable materials pulled directly from the local vernacular such as weathering steel, concrete, old-growth cypress, pine and white oak. With the sculpture serving as an interactive beacon and visual connection across the surrounding pedestrian corridors, its warmly-colored weathering steel and wood inlay make the #iHeartTally sculpture a thread in the historic fabric.
A smaller version will travel to different events and sites throughout each year to highlight the people and spaces that make Tallahassee unique. By having this mobile version that moves to different community spaces, people will see locations they wouldn’t have originally planned on visiting and connect with others.
As the 200th anniversary of Florida’s Capitol City approaches, the KCCI 2017 Team is excited to see this project further put Tallahassee on the map as the place to be.
For more information about this KCCI team, click here.
Written By Debbie Bergstrom, 2017 KCCI Community Catalyst