Company devises winning way to install Catholic agency's giant mural

Published: 2005-07-27

CHICAGO (CNS) -- A Chicago design company received a national award for creating a way for Catholic Charities in the Chicago Archdiocese to install a giant mural on the agency's headquarters that illustrates its mandate for providing social services. In the process, the company, Farrodyne USA, introduced a new art form to the United States. The artwork, titled "The Mandatum," is "a shadow mural" and, according to the company, is the only one of its kind outside of France. It was installed on an exterior wall of the Catholic Charities building, which overlooks the downtown Chicago expressway. The mural measures 153 feet across and 33 feet high and is composed of 202 aluminum strips, or "fins," that cast shadows on the wall, giving the effect of 3-D images. Earlier this year Farrodyne received the 2005 Construction Technology Award for the technique it developed to assemble the thousands of metal components making up the 80,000-pound mural. The artwork was unveiled in September 2003.

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