I just recently learned of the system of tunnels that connect various buildings in the CBD. I have searched for some more information finding only a few articles from a few years ago refering to the massive renovations that were to take place. What happened to those plans? Is it worth a trip at lunch to see or?

It was completed back in February. It wasn't a "massive" renovation ($1.6 mil) but it is worth a trip to check it out. Very cool.

...this is the first I've heard of it. Can someone explain to me exactly what this is?

Elliott + Associates Architects (http://www.e-a-a.com/Community/undrgrnd.html)

http://www.okctalk.com/okc-metro-area-talk/9512-underground-grand-opening.html?highlight=underground

http://www.okctalk.com/okc-metro-area-talk/6269-underground-renovation-start.html?highlight=underground

It's an underground tunnel system, built in the early 1970s, which connects a number of downtown buildings. It's about a mile long; originally it was named the Metro Conncourse, the spelling "error" intended to honor banker Jack Conn, one of the prime movers behind the project.

http://www.downtownokc.com/Portals/1/PDF/BID_service_map_05.pdf

Doug has some amazing history on the Underground:

Doug Dawgz Blog: Asian District - The Underground (http://dougdawg.blogspot.com/2006/10/asian-district-underground.html)

Karried: I believe that is a diferent "underground".

Karried: I believe that is a diferent "underground".

Who can say for sure??? Maybe Jack Conn just "discovered" it and then received credit! :bright_id

ooopps..
I always thought they were connected in some way.... more than one underground here in OK? I'll go back and read it again. Thanks for the heads up!

Every time I've been in those tunnels, I get an urge to go get a bicycle and haul a$$ through there.

Underground's IDA awards no small feat

By Steve Lackmeyer
The Oklahoman

To this day, the reviews are mixed on the renovation that converted a damp, tired and bleak Conncourse into The Underground, a carnival of brightly-lit tunnels that easily could be home to a Flaming Lips (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=The+Flaming+Lips&CATEGORY=ORGANIZATION) music video.

The underground pedestrian tunnels are yet another unforgettable design by Oklahoma City architect Rand Elliott (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Rand+Elliott&CATEGORY=PERSON). And his firm received accolades Monday at the International Downtown Association (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=International+Downtown+Association&CATEGORY=ORGANIZATION) annual fall conference in New York.

Being declared the winner of the IDA's Public Space award is no small feat. Downtown Oklahoma City was in competition with cities around the world. The IDA, founded in 1954, has more than 650 member organizations that include cities in Europe (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Europe&CATEGORY=CONTINENT), Asia (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Asia&CATEGORY=CONTINENT) and Africa (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Africa&CATEGORY=CONTINENT).

The occasion is even sweeter because the IDA also honored former Oklahoma City Mayor Ron Norick (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Ron+Norick&CATEGORY=PERSON), credited by many with making downtown's renaissance a reality.

So yes, this is a big deal.

But this triumph is also a reminder of the conference that got away. Back in 2003, about 300 IDA delegates were preparing to see downtown Oklahoma City for themselves.

Visitors from across the United States (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=United+States&CATEGORY=COUNTRY) and Canada (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Canada&CATEGORY=COUNTRY) would have seen a post-MAPS Oklahoma City — and how the addition of a ballpark, canal and arena, teamed up with other improvements, had transformed a downtown once declared dead.

The spring 2003 conference had to relocate, however, when Oklahoma City somehow couldn't raise the full $40,000 in sponsorship money.
The conference made a last minute move to Houston — the city that seems constantly out to steal a valued Oklahoma company.

How embarrassing.

That's then, and this is now.

As evidenced by The Underground, downtown Oklahoma City has even more to brag about than it did four years ago.

Housing is going up everywhere, and downtown districts including the Flat Iron and MidTown, have taken downtown to new heights.

So could Oklahoma City ever hope to again convince the IDA to make a visit?

We can only imagine an upfront payment would be needed a second time around. But as the city continues its effort to bring its identity into the 21st century, surely an IDA visit wouldn't be a bad place to start.

this article was in the August 2007 issue of Interior Design magazine - way cool!

The Way Forward

Rand Elliott transformed an Oklahoma City tunnel system into the Underground, a walk-in work of art.

by Edie Cohen
Interior Design · August 1, 2007


Leave it to Rand Elliott to take art to a new level: 12 feet under. In a project encompassing public and private sectors, he's made sense of a decades-old tunnel system connecting buildings in the center of his beloved Oklahoma City. The way-finding scheme he devised for this pedestrian transport system qualifies as an art installation in itself.

Mixing artistry with utility is classic Elliott. "I've been involved with the arts virtually all my professional life," he remarks. That dates back to the late 1970's, when he became active in the Oklahoma City Festival of the Arts. Today, the staff of Elliott + Associates Architects numbers dozens of designers with painting, sculpture, photography, and music as avocations, and the firm's completed projects include a studio for Ballet Oklahoma and a light-sensitive apartment for the granddaughter of Oklahoma Territory photographer North Losey. "After all," he continues, "what is architecture but a combination of art and science?"

Elliott didn't have to dig too deep to satisfy Downtown Oklahoma City, the consortium that manages the passageways between the 23 buildings—the clients were desperate for a change from the tunnels' raw concrete walls and 1970's-style painted supergraphics. But before making a single physical change, he kicked off the effort with a branding exercise. The tunnel system, begun in 1931 and built mostly between 1972 and 1984, was originally called the Conncourse in honor of hometown banker Jack Conn. Its hip new name, the Underground, conjures up images of a "cool place that's functional, easy to navigate, and a destination, too," Elliott says.

On a more concrete level, the $1.3 million project entailed signage, paint, lighting, and carpet spread out over 3,000 linear feet. First, Elliott created a museum-worthy blank slate. Then came color—with gelled fluorescents. As a navigational tool, he assigned green to the passages connecting banks, blue to the federal buildings, red to county buildings, magenta to hotels, and so forth. In most areas, gray carpet tile with water-resistant asphalt backing covers the concrete floor. Intersections of tunnels are demarcated by black carpet, a band of black paint on walls and ceiling, and colored plastic-laminate panels listing each corridor's destination buildings. The panels' vinyl lettering is color-coded. Similar letters, this time in black, spell out "Underground" on steel columns at the system's 15 street-level entrances.

Ease of transport solved, Elliott had another mission: "Why not educate, entertain, and make people smile?" Coming up with a gallery concept, he turned to the Oklahoma History Center's archive of 6 million photographs. He ultimately bought 125 prints, framed them behind UV glass, and asked local historian Pendleton Woods to write wall labels for the nine subterranean galleries—each colored tunnel is interrupted by a white space hung with black-and-white photographs. In depicting Oklahoma City's evolution, the images also transmit some of Elliott's pride of place.

Another gallery space is slated to host quarterly group shows curated by a representative from a local arts organization—two years' worth of funding has been secured so far. And a related initiative is taking advantage of empty storefronts belowground. In place now for a six-month run is a video project depicting passersby in motion, and Elliott is soliciting proposals for future installations, temporary or permanent. The underlying message: Art is a draw for business investment.

The architect transformed the longest tunnel, 400 feet, into a permanent light sculpture, no photos needed. Walls lined with perforated steel screens are lit from below in glowing yellow and above in complementary blue. Of course, the Dan Flavin comparison is inevitable. For Elliott, though, it was merely a matter of "taking challenging existing conditions and making art."

Leaving no surface untouched, he even replaced convex security mirrors with larger versions—perhaps a touch of Anish Kapoor.

What are the hours?

6am-8pm. I believe. Wish it didn't close so early.

I think it closes earlier than that.

Work has parking downtown. I'd love the tunnels to stay open until late, so we could park securely and walk underground to the Ford Center, or near the ballpark.

I think they are open till 8 p.m. but it is an issue with keeping security on duty past working hours. Guess someone (building owners?) has to pay for that and maybe that is the time they decided upon. I would like to see the tunnels open on weekends if possible to encourage out of town visitors to use them.