Norman, OK.
2009
The 431’ long expanse of the Rock Creek Road Bridge provided Weitzman with a unique opportunity to affect the most visible elements of the bridge: the parapets, pier sets, and large embankments. Aesthetics representing the City of Norman’s activeWeitzman industries in both breeding quarter horses and crafting saddles fill the expansive concrete space provided by the scale of this bridge. The deep relief of stampeding horses casts strong, pronounced shadows.
Large weaved patterns fill the vertical pier faces and wingwalls, which originate from hand-tooled patterns common to cowboy saddles. These areas are stained to imitate the handcrafted leather of the saddlery industry. Adorning the bullnose of the central pier bent and the termini of the parapet are large, conchos. Used to ornament the bands, straps, and cinches of horse saddles, conchos denote cowboy culture and iconography.
Passing under the bridge, commuters see a pattern of squares made from cross-hatched textures, alternating orientation, stamped onto the slope wall to form a diamond American Indian rug design. Bookended by two half-diamonds, this central diamond spans the height and width of the slope wall. Representing a woven quilt or blanket that is needed to pad saddles, these stamped diamonds accentuate the simple weave appearing on the piers and wing walls to further connote the theme of saddlery and equine craftsmanship.