A large maple leaf structure will soon overlook Library Mall, as Madison is moving into the final phase of the area’s reconstruction project at the campus end of State Street.

The sculpture will be made of stainless steel, stand 25 to 30 feet tall and will be designed to look like a maple leaf, the city’s Principal Engineer Chris Petykowski said. 

The maple leaf will be lit up to change colors with the seasons, Petykowski said. It will be white in the winter, then green-yellow in the spring and summer, orange in the fall and then back to white again.

“…The city adopted a public art framework that requires the team of designers and engineers to also include a public artist when the city undertakes reconstruction involving public art and city buildings,” Principal Planner Bill Fruhling said. “Jill Sebastian is our artist. She came up with the concept of the maple leaf.”

Fruhling said the goal of Sebastian and the rest of the design team was to create something iconic to help identify the space as well as provide shade. The leaf itself is maple because Wisconsin’s state tree is a maple tree.

The cost of the project is roughly $300,000, Petykowski said. The manufacturing of the sculpture is scheduled to start in December and will be installed in the summer, Petykowski said.

“We look at it as just a part of the cost of a project. We don’t believe public art should be viewed as extra add-ins. Rather, we look at is a main part to a larger, more complex project,” Fruhling said.

The idea received a great deal of support from the public, as well as enthusiasm from the Madison Arts Commission, Fruhling said. Petykowski said the project also has the support of city council.

Location is key for what makes this structure special, Fruhling said.

“The space is certainly an important space in the city of Madison, given its proximity to the state capitol and the fact that it is right in the middle of the UW campus,” Fruhling said.

Petykowski said the reconstruction has gone according to plan and is almost done, with the exception of a few lingering elements that need to be finished. There will be more planters, and lighting will be installed by spring 2015.

Fruhling said these blocks are the final phase of a project that has been going on for around 10 years. The reconstruction first started near the Capitol Square and traveled all the way down the street, as well as onto certain attached streets.

“This is an attempt at making a graceful, more inviting approach to creating a space that is both more functionally and aesthetically tied together,” Fruhling said.