Close article

Behind the Scenes

Water Street Tampa

Date

03.30.20

Category

, ,

Written by

yuki o

Unique Shipping Container and Parking Lot Murals Bring Visual Interest to Sparkman Wharf

For the Sparkman Wharf Project, Pep Rally Inc had the exciting opportunity to collaborate with Strategic Property Partners beginning at phase 0 to create a unique space along Tampa’s Garrison Channel waterfront. The project is among the first of many revitalization projects for the Channelside District.

We illustrated repurposed shipping containers with fun and vibrant interpretations of icons of Tampa culture. The shipping containers compose the structure where restaurateurs from the native culinary environment offer food and drinks from food-hall style windows.These containers are a backdrop for a large scale mural that wraps the surface area of the containers in a visual celebration of Tampa Bay.

Design Concept:

Our concept for the shipping containers uses collaged imagery inspired by the movement of Tampa Bay as a vehicle for natural and cultural local icons. Birds, plants and other natural structures, and architectural patterns adorn the corrugated surfaces of each container to represent themes like movement and migration. The motifs flow across the ridged surfaces like the tides flow through mangrove roots and Tampa’s culture flows through periods of growth and change. Each container facade includes representative elements of the area’s thriving diversity of culture and natural beauty; a celebration of the elements that make the Sparkman Wharf concept great.

Painted Parking Lot

In addition to the shipping container murals, Pep Rally created a mural that spans the surface of Garrison Parking Lot. The team overcame the challenge of scale by using a grid to map out the artwork on paper before enlarging and transferring the gridded imagery onto the parking lot surface with rollers. This massive mural includes a black background with white topographic lines and slogans woven throughout. Strategic Property Partners provided the slogans, which use language that fosters excitement and socialization like “Feel the spark,” “Make waves TPA,” and “Group chat in person.”

Mangrove Tunnel / Wayfinding Graphic

We also created a design for the walkway and scaffolding to present wayfinding information that is visually appealing and cohesive with the Sparkman Wharf concept. Mangrove root patterns wind across sidewalks and wood panels that cover scaffolding to provide directions to the area’s landmarks.