The Citylink Walking Route

Commissioned by Oak View Group, creative studio NEWSUBSTANCE provided a turnkey creative solution to design, deliver and install an 11-part public art trail leading to Co-op Live, a spectacular new music venue in Manchester City Centre. We were proud to work with Climate Pledge as the official sustainability partner and the presenting partner of the 'Citylink’ walking route from Holt Town to the Etihad Campus.

Answering a core requirement of the brief, the walking route was designed to encourage concert goers to travel to the venue by foot through an artistically, architecturally driven and experience-focused art trail. Our ambition was to; showcase Manchester as a culturally rich and vibrant city, inject moments of intrigue, colour and joy into the local area, and build excitement and atmosphere in anticipation of Co-op Live as an outstanding new music venue. The trail takes inspiration from Manchester iconography and offers a celebratory experience of art, music and football. Designing from a blank slate, the trail includes a glowing 9-metre tall light arch, two twin 9-metre tall light antennas and an oversized neon M, each intended to bring an element of colour and height to the trail. Our studio incorporated customisable bespoke lighting design to illuminate each artwork, allowing them to adopt different visual identities for each Co-op Live act and spark a sense of joy and delight in travellers. Working with local artists, the trail also features a 40-metre-long mural artwork designed by Manchester's beloved artist Stanley Chow and painted by the talented Akse P19. We further enhanced audience interaction by incorporating a custom surround soundscape piece produced by the talented Manchester-based artist Hayley Suviste. The audio experience takes place under the colourful lights of the Hive Bridge installation, depicting the sounds of Manchester through themes of Nature, Sport & Music. Approaching this project through an open creative lens and with our excellent team of design and engineering experts, our urban design solution has transformed an otherwise underused location and driven public footfall to the area. We have enhanced local communities’ experiences of the location and promoted a safer and more sustainable walking route from Holt Town to the Etihad Campus. The public art trail is also designed to consider visitors' experience both in the daytime and at night, coming alive after dusk through colour, light and sound. This project provided a great opportunity for us as a studio to creatively design from a blank canvas, working closely with the client to ensure the installations captured the energy of the venue, the essence of Manchester as a city and the requirements of the brief.