Credit: Courtesy of Mac Adams

Artist Mac Adams created a modern design appropriate for “a young law school,’’ with the choice of antique glass as a medium a nod to tradition. State law requires that up to 1.5 percent of construction funding for state buildings be allocated for works of public art.

In designing the east building of Rutgers School of Law–Camden, an inventive planning team found inspiration in what might have been a mere structural detail: the passageway connecting the new building with the 1970s original across the street. Light streams through the walkway’s three-story glass façade onto cheerful student and faculty lounges that sit along it, at the intersection of the old and the new.

“We wanted the Fifth Street Bridge to be a lively community space, and not just a walkway. It was crucial to make the original and the new building one culture, so that everyone could share in both,” noted Rayman Solomon, dean of Rutgers School of Law–Camden. “The student lounge on the Fifth Street Bridge really is the heart of the school and very much like the Main Street archetype, where faculty and students meet and mingle.’’

The visual centerpiece of this crossroads is a 1,200 square-foot glasswork installation set in the center of the law school’s north wall, with abstract shapes in vivid tones of blue, orange, pink, and yellow stretching across its 29 window panes. Each of the panels weighs between 250 and 300 pounds and is made of hand-cut antique glass.

The striking, several-ton installation was designed by the New Jersey-based artist, Mac Adams, who earned his MFA from Rutgers in 1969. The piece was manufactured by the 142-year-old Derix Glass Studios in Germany, following a two-year selection process prompted by a state mandate, which requires that up to 1.5 percent of construction funding for state buildings be allocated for works of public art.

The Arts Inclusion Act of 1978 leaves the choice of painting, sculpture, mosaic, terrazzo floor, or landscape art to the discretion of the art selection committee formed for each building project, with guidance from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

Tom Moran, senior program officer for artists’ services with the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, met initially with Rutgers staff in 2005 to help them identify areas that would provide the most prominent display of public art.

“We viewed the glass facade of the Fifth Street Bridge as a unique feature of the project, and so we decided to do something there,’’ Solomon recalled. “We chose the north wall, facing traffic traveling into New Jersey over the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, because it can be seen as a campus gateway from that direction. The College of Arts and Sciences had already installed a large public sculpture on Fourth Street as a gateway from the south. Both are designed to connect the campus with the larger community.’’

After committee members zeroed in on the bridge, Moran presented images of 20 possible artists for consideration. The committee picked Adams based on a watercolor he provided that was “bright, beautiful, abstract, and very interesting – a very bold statement,’’ as Solomon put it.

“Mac designed it so it doesn’t obscure views of the outside,’’ he added. “When you’re sitting in the faculty lounge, you can look up and see the sky and clouds behind it. It’s quite stunning, as the piece changes in color and intensity depending on the natural light.’’ At night it is illuminated by interior lights.

Adams said he created a modern design, because he thought it would be appropriate for “a young law school.’’ He called the choice of glass as a medium a nod to tradition as well, however. Early on in the discussions, one of the building committee members had spoken admiringly of the stained glass at the University of Oxford, an academic institution fast approaching its millennium.

“What I didn’t want to do were stereotypical law images, like those young ladies with blindfolds over their eyes holding scales. I thought that it had to be an abstract image, but one that had meaning for the place,’’ said Adams, who describes himself as a narrative artist.

He was inspired by a famous speech in the English House of Lords in 1935 in which Viscount John Sankey, arguing on behalf of a condemned man in Woolmington v. Director for Public Prosecutions, spoke of the enduring “golden thread” in that country’s body of criminal law that requires the prosecution to prove a defendant’s guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

Adams said he was forced to substitute blue for gold, however, observing that gold didn’t work – “it registers as black when the light comes through.” His circular thread is broken in spots by clear panes of glass and, stretching vertically for three stories, can be seen in its entirety only from the outside. “Law is an imperfect circle. The prosecution and the defense don’t really come together,’’ Adams remarked.

Dean Solomon said that most people have been enthusiastic about the installation. “But as with all art, it’s controversial,’’ he noted. “When you’re inside the building, you can’t see the whole sculpture. If you’re on the upper floor of the bridge, you can only see the top third of the sculpture, and from the student lounge, you can see the bottom two-thirds. Some people find that a little disquieting.”

The new 55,000-square-foot East building itself represents a substantial departure from old design models, with spaces that promote community among law school students, faculty, staff, and graduates.

Gone, for example, are both the cloistered study spaces and the auditorium-sized classrooms that pack in up to 100 students. Its classrooms and seminar rooms are designed for small to midsize sessions. The clinical rooms allow for the expansion of the law school’s growing portfolio of clinical and pro bono programs that serve the community. The Archer & Greiner Moot Courtroom, with a bank of windows along one wall, embraces light and transparency in the legal system. It will be used by the New Jersey Supreme Court and the New Jersey Appellate Division for active sessions.

The $37 million project also includes substantial renovations to the existing 1971 structure, which will be completed by the start of the spring semester.

Adams said he had never worked in glass before, but he was eager for the challenge, although he called glass a “very unforgiving medium” as it is both heavy and fragile. He said he inadvertently chose a pink color that turned out to be the heaviest and most difficult to manufacture. “I believe in creative ignorance. By not knowing, you break the rules,’’ he said.

Moran said he viewed Adams’ inexperience in glassworks as an interesting challenge, rather than a problem. “We like to send artists, whether they are emerging or established, in new directions,’’ he said.

In addition to Adams, the building committee’s short list for the project included Ned Smyth, known for his public sculptures and mosaics in places like Battery Park City, and David Wilson, whose specialty is large-scale architectural glassworks.