Search Results for “Ned Kahn” – Public Art and Architecture from Around the World

Search Results : Ned Kahn

Bus Jet Fountain

Posted by Cindy on October 2, 2018

Oct 022018

Transbay Terminal
2nd and Folsom

Bay Area artist Ned Kahn has been in this site before. He lived in San Francisco for over 20 years, many of which were spent designing educational exhibits at the Exploratorium. He recently moved to Sebastopol in Sonoma County to expand his studies and laboratory space.

Mr. Kahn’s work is a seamless synthesis of nature, art and technology. With extraordinary technical ability, he demonstrates the versatility of turbulent systems, such as the vortices of wind and water. His dazzlingly complex but comprehendible images of nature respond to viewers, conform to architectural structures, and reveal and make visible inherent environmental conditions.

For the Transit Center, Mr. Kahn will installed a series of water jets on the rooftop park that are triggered by sensors that respond to the vibrations of the flow of buses on the deck below. The frequency, motion and height of the jets will correspond to the level of activity on the bus deck, making the arrivals and departures of the buses visible and tangible through their choreographed effect on the water.

The Transbay Joint Power Authority (TJPA) committed $4.75 million to fund the acquisition of artwork for the program. The TJPA’s commitment is in the spirit of the city and county of San Francisco’s “Percent for Art Ordinance,” which allocates two percent of construction costs for the inclusion of public art in the civic structures and facilities, and is consistent with policies established by the Federal Transportation Authority encouraging the inclusion of art in transportation facilities.

TJPA engaged the San Francisco Arts Commission to manage and oversee the planning and development of the public art program.

The budget for this project was $378,300.

Rain Portal

Posted by Cindy on April 7, 2014

Apr 072014

SFPUC Building
525 Golden Gate Avenue
Civic Center

Rain Portal by Ned Kahn. Kahn has several pieces around San Francisco that you can read about here.

Ned Kahn’s Rain Portal is located inside the lobby of the new Public Utilities building. Kahn’s Firefly graces the exterior of the building and you can read about it here.

Rain Portal seeks to permeate an interior architectural wall with rain. Drops of water falling inside of an undulating polycarbonate membrane suggests the endless cycle of evaporation and precipitation.

According to Kahn, “One of the paradoxes of the Rain Portal is that much of the entire history of architecture can be viewed as the endeavor to keep rain out. Here we have invited it in.”

The installation covers two walls located on either side of the lobby stairway. The installation is a self-sustaining system that continuously recycles water to create the illusion of rain inside the clear polycarbonate wall panels. The extruded polycarbonate has multiple cells of plastic that through which water is pumped up from a reservoir at the bottom of the panels and released as small drops into the top. The artwork was dedicated with the opening of the building in June 2012.

The installation of Rain Portal cost $24,800, and was done by Gizmo Art Productions. I was unable to find what the piece itself cost.

These two plaques are not part of Ned Kahn’s installation, but rather part of the buildings effort to be one of the foremost water conscious buildings in the world. An important reminder while California enters another year of severe drought.

This work has been deaccessioned.

Cloud Portal

Posted by Cindy on January 16, 2013

Jan 162013

Corner of Washington and Davis
Golden Gateway Center

This sculpture is titled Cloud Portal and is by Ned Kahn. Kahn has several sculptures around San Francisco

Mist periodically emerges from the central void of a sculpture constructed out of stacked horizontal sheets of stainless steel. The mist alternately reveals and obscurs the view of the urban landscape that is framed by the sculpture. A collaboration with RHAA landscape architects the sculpture was completed in 2011.

Hidden Sea near Moscone Center

Posted by Cindy on September 22, 2012

Sep 222012

321 Clementina
SOMA

Hidden Sea by Ned Kahn 2000

Recipient Organization: Tenants and Owners Development Corporation

In late 1999, artist Ned Kahn collaborated with the staff of the Tenants and Owners Development Corporation (TODCO) and the residents of their housing projects to create a public artwork for the exterior wall of Ceatrice Polite apartment building at Fourth and Clementina Streets. The apartment is in the Yerba Buena redevelopment area.

Ned Kahn’s public artworks encourage people to observe and interact with natural processes. Upon talking with the advisory group, his concept for this project became to create a piece that captures the feeling of watching a field of tall grass blowing in the wind. Both Kahn and John Elberling, Executive Vice President of TODCO, felt that the residents would benefit from being offered a glimpse into a natural phenomenon, a bit of calm and beauty in the context of their increasingly dense and bustling urban landscape.

The artwork, “Hidden Sea” consists of 6,000 small aluminum “leaves” mounted in an aluminum framework and hinged to move freely in the wind. The individual leaves measure three inches by three inches and are held by low friction bearings. The entire 40-foot tall by 25-foot wide artwork reveals the shape of the wind and creates the intended impression of waves in a field of metallic grass. The mirror-like surfaces of the aluminum leaves reflect light from different parts of the sky and the surrounding buildings.

“Hidden Sea” was fabricated by Ace Precision Machine in Santa Rosa and assembled in Ned Kahn’s studio. Benji Young and Michael Ehrlich of Young Rigging in San Francisco installed the artwork at the beginning of the year 2000.

Ned Kahn writes of the context for this project:

For the last 15 years, I have created public artworks that use wind, water, fog and other natural processes as their primary medium. Many of these artworks were intended to reveal a hidden or unnoticed force in the site such as the air currents or the ambient light from the sky. The design of a number of these projects was based on an aspect of the natural history or geology of the region that was not commonly known. My artworks often function as small-scale “observatories” in that they frame and enhance our perception of natural phenomena and create places that encourage contemplation.

Firefly on the new SFPUC Building

Posted by Cindy on September 17, 2012

Sep 172012

525 Golden Gate Avenue
Civic Center

This is the new Public Utilities building in San Francisco. It is touted as one of the more “green buildings” built in the US. Four egg-beater-like wind turbines are on view behind a 200-foot-high, 22-foot-wide curtain of polycarbonate squares called Firefly.

Ned Kahn’s Firefly is a lattice of tens of thousands of five-inch-square, clear-polycarbonate panels that are hinged so that they can freely move in the wind. During the day, the ever-changing wind pressure profile on the building appears as undulating waves. At night, this movement is converted into light. As the wind presses the hinged panels inward a small embedded magnet connected to an electrical reed switch triggers the flickering of tiny LED lights. The lights are colored to mimic fireflies which are a threatened species due to their dependence on riparian ecosystems. The entire sculpture requires less energy than a 75-Watt light bulb.

An artist from Northern California, Kahn replicates the forms and forces of nature. Kahn combines science, art and technology to integrate natural, human, and artificial systems, and his specific works emphasise natural elements, such as water, fire, wind and sand; how these behave independently, and how they interact.

After graduating from college with an environmental studies degree, from 1982 to 1996 he designed educational exhibits at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. He apprenticed there to Frank Oppenheimer, the centre’s founder and brother of atomic physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer. Ned Kahn presents projects both in scientific settings and in art contexts.

Wind Turbine taken from inside the building

Belle Isle

Posted by Cindy on August 4, 2017

Aug 042017

Belle Isle
Detroit, Michigan

The James Scott Memorial Fountain was designed by architect Cass Gilbert and sculptor Herbert Adams, the fountain was completed in 1925 at a cost of $500,000

Belle Isle is a 982-acre island park in the Detroit River, between the United States mainland and Canada. Belle Isle is the largest city-owned island park in the United States and is the third largest island in the Detroit River. It is connected to mainland Detroit by the MacArthur Bridge.

One interesting story told about the island is part of Motor City history. It is said that one night in 1908 Byron Carter of Cartercar stopped to help a stranded motorist on Belle Isle. When he cranked her Cadillac, it kicked back and broke his jaw. Complications from the injury turned into pneumonia and he died. The incident motivated Henry Leland, founder of Cadillac Motors to state that “The Cadillac car will kill no more men if we can help it” and to hire Charles Kettering, who established Delco and developed the electric self-starter.

James Scott was left a sizable fortune by his father who invested in Detroit real estate. Scott was described by twentieth-century author W. Hawkins Ferry as a “vindictive, scurrilous misanthrope” who attempted to intimidate his business competitors and when this was unsuccessful, he filed suit. Perhaps for these reasons, Scott died in 1910 with no heirs or colleagues and he bequeathed his estate to the City of Detroit with the condition that the fountain include a life-sized bronze statue of him.

The Nancy Brown Peace Carillon

The 85-foot Neo-Gothic carillon cost nearly $59,000 when it was built. The tower was designed by Clarence E. Day, brother-in-law of James E. Scripps, the publisher of the Detroit News. The builder was Harlow A. Amsbary. Nancy Brown was the pen name of a Detroit News columnist who wrote the Experience Column from 1919 to January of 1942. Her real name was Annie Louise Brown.

The concept of the Peace Carillon came from a reader. In 1934, Nancy Brown promoted the idea in her column. It was built by readers who sent in nickels and dimes through Brown’s fundraiser and dedicated in 1940.

The Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory is the oldest continually-running conservatory in the United States. It is named for Anna Scripps Whitcomb, who left her collection of 600 orchids to Detroit in 1955. Anna Scripps Whitcomb was the daughter of The Detroit News founder James E. Scripps

Outside of this Conservatory sits a Japanese Stone Lantern made of white granite. The lantern, or Tohro as it is traditionally called, was presented to the City of Detroit by their sister city, Toyota, to commemorate the 25th year of their sister city relations. The lantern is inscribed with the Japanese word for “friendship”. Behind the lantern is the Levi L. Barbour Memorial Fountain, designed by sculptor Marshall Fredericks and dedicated June 25, 1937. Barbour was an industrialist who pushed for Detroit acquiring Belle Isle, and left money to the City to erect a monument in his honor “in order to inspire others to be charitable.”

Construction began in 1902 on the Aquarium and Horticultural Building, as it was called then. The two buildings, designed by famed Detroit architect Albert Kahn, opened on August 18, 1904, and were originally joined where one could walk between the two structures without leaving the building.

The Belle Isle Aquarium is the oldest aquarium in the country. In 2005, the city of Detroit announced that the Aquarium was to be closed due to lean economic times for the city. The building remained closed to the public until the Belle Isle Conservancy reopened it on September 15, 2012.

The lily pond is located between the conservatory building and the Belle Isle Aquarium. It was not part of the original design but constructed in 1936. The rocky walls were created with 200 tons of moss-covered limestone boulders that were brought from the construction of the Livingstone Channel in the Detroit River near Amherstburg, Ontario. The pond is home to Japanese koi that are maintained by volunteers and are held in the Aquarium basement during winter.

Belle Isle is the embodiment of what it is to live in Michigan, spending summers on the water. Beach goers and picnickers abound on Belle Isle in the summer. Signs of family reunions, birthday parties, and get-togethers are everywhere, parking is plentiful and all types of water activities available to those that visit the island.

Detroit’s Renaissance

Posted by Cindy on August 1, 2017

Aug 012017

The Book Building at 1249 Washington Blvd, Downtown Detroit

So much has been written about Detroit’s decline, and yet so little has been written about its renaissance. Yes, the outlying areas have a long way to go, but the new construction and renovations happening in the downtown area are staggering. This post by no means covers the enormous amount of renovation occurring, these are just a few of this author’s favorite buildings.

The Book Building, designed by Louis Kamper for the Book brothers, was built in 1917, the tower was added in 1926. There was considerable criticism about the building looking more like a wedding cake than an office building when it was erected, this author, however, has a fondness for caryatids and found the building charming. The building is undergoing a projected $400 million renovation by Bedrock Real Estate Services.

The Grand Army of the Republic Hall at 1942 Grand River Avenue in the West Necklace neighborhood

The Grand Army of the Republic Building was designed by architect Julius Hess and constructed in 1887 as a structure for meetings and other GAR related activities. The cost was split between the Grand Army of the Republic ( $6000 of the cost) and the city of Detroit (the remainder of the $44,000 total cost).

State Savings Bank at 151 West Fort Street and Shelby.

This is the only building in Detroit designed by McKim, Mead, and White, it was built in 1900.

Photo from Wikipedia

Slated for demolition in 2014, the building was purchased by a private investor. The owner did not disclose the purchase price or possible plans, however, one rumored use could be an auto museum.

The Fisher Building at 3011 West Grand Avenue.

The interior of the Fisher Building is a wonder to behold and a stroll through the enormous lobby is not to be missed. Named the “Building of the Century” by Detroit AIA this 1927 building, commissioned by the Fisher Brothers, was designed by eminent Detroit architect Albert Kahn. The Fisher family financed the building with proceeds from the sale of Fisher Body to General Motors

The attention to detail on the exterior of the building is also worth noting.

The three-story vaulted arcade is finished with forty different varieties of marble and ornamentation extolling the virtues of commerce, industry, and arts.

It is almost impossible to explain the interior ceiling murals.

The eagles with their wings slightly open, ready to take flight, symbolize an America ready to advance to greater things. Other eagles in and on the Fisher have their wings outstretched, symbolizing the power of the United States. Those with their wings tucked in, in a sheltering manner, show the nation’s strength and that it is sound.

The frescos, mosaics, and sculpture were designed by Geza R. Maroti, an artist from Budapest, Hungary. The artwork represents two major ideas: the wealth and power of the U.S. expressed through commerce and transportation, and American culture and civilization through music and drama.

Artists from Detroit’s Cranbrook School and an army of European artists worked on the interiors.

Set into the floor, is a large bronze shield in low relief. It featured a semi-nude figure of Mercury — the god of transportation and bearer of messages. Sadly, the details have been mostly eroded by decades of Detroiters walking over it. It has been roped off to prevent further damage.

Along the walls of the arcade are 26 lunettes with symbolical designs and subjects such as Agriculture, Art, Justice, Knowledge, Music, Navigation, Peace, and Thrift.

The elaborate frescoes were also designed by Maroti but carried out by artists Antonio and Tomas de Lorenzo of New York City.

The corridors on every floor are marble-faced with cove ceilings. The window sills are marble.

The Buhl Building at 535 Griswold

The exterior ornamentation of the Buhl Building is what drew me in. Designed by Smith, Hinchman, and Grylls in 1925 it showcases the sculpture of Corrado Parducci and tiles of Mary Chase Perry Stratton, of Pewabic Pottery.

The entryway vaulted ceilings are designed to be the night sky, and the tiles were produced by Pewabic Pottery.

Mies van der Rohe in Lafayette Park

The Mies van der Rohe Residential District is both an outstanding example of Modernist architecture and one of America’s most successful post-World War II urban redevelopment projects. Three distinct sections cover the 46-acre project: 21 multiple-unit townhomes (pictured below) and a high-rise apartment building, 13 acre Lafayette Park consisting of recreation facilities, and a school and finally twin apartment towers and a shopping center. In 1956 developer Herbert Greenwald brought together architect Mies van der Rohe, city planner Ludwig Hilberseimer, and landscape architect Alfred Caldwell to create an “integrated community” that would “attract people back to the heart of the city.”

Michigan Central Train Station in Corktown near the Ambassador Bridge

This Beaux-Arts Classical style train station was designed by the Warren & Wetmore and Reed & Stem, the same firms who designed New York City’s Grand Central Terminal.

When the 18 stories tall train station opened in 1913, it was the tallest train station in the world and one of the tallest buildings in the city of Detroit. The high-rise part of the building was originally built to house offices; the depot itself is three stories tall. Part of what makes the building so visually striking is the fact that no other tall structures are immediately nearby.

Primarily due to the success of Detroit’s own auto industry the last train to ever leave Michigan Central Station pulled away in January of 1988 and the building has sat unoccupied ever since.

The building is owned by the Moroun family, who also owns the Ambassador Bridge. Neglect has brought this Nationally Registered landmark close to demolition on more than one occasion. It had all 1050 windows replaced in 2015 and hopes are that more will be done to preserve this gem.

Ford Motor Company has purchased the building as of June 2018. Here is a great article with photos of the interior in the New York Times.

The last of the buildings in this strange wanderings is the Dymaxion House at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn.

This aluminum house, designed by Buckminster Fuller in 1929, was meant to handle the masses of servicemen returning from the war. It was to be mass-produced, easily reused, and completely recyclable.

Built on a central core holding much of the utilities, the house radiated out from there

Market expectations, continual design changes, and other setbacks kept the house from being a reality, but the fact that its hybrid sits in the Ford Museum makes for fun viewing.

There are truly so many fabulous buildings, and history, in Detroit. If you are going, I suggest adding a considerable amount of extra time to explore the many, many office buildings, churches and government buildings that make up this amazingly architectural rich city.

The Rialto Building

Posted by Cindy on July 2, 2014

Jul 022014

116 New Montgomery
South of Market

I became intrigued with this building when a friend showed me this Black and White photo in the lobby of the Rialto.

(Note: the round building on the left is the Crossley building)

The Rialto is an eight-story H-shaped plan with center light courts. It has a steel frame clad in brick and terra cotta. The eighth story is highly ornamented. The façade accommodated the lack of interior partition walls by providing a large space between the window mullions. This allowed partitions to be erected between the windows once floors were leased. Since the interior lacked dividing partition walls, tenants could rent large floor areas that could be configured according to their needs.

Originally constructed in 1902, it was reconstructed in 1910 after the 1906 Earthquake and Fire. The original 1902 building façade was maintained. The 1910 reconstruction consisted primarily of structural improvements.

In 1902, during the 20th century building boom, Herbert Law financed construction of the Rialto Building, as well as the Crossley Building. The Rialto was named after a commercial center in Venice, Italy, a rialto is an exchange or mart.

Law hired the architectural firm of Meyer & O’Brien. Meyer & O’Brien, who despite only operating between 1902 and 1908, were prolific in the Financial District, designing some of San Francisco’s most prominent buildings, including the Monadnock Building, 637-687 Market Street (1906); the Humboldt Bank Building, 793- 785 Market Street (1906); the Hastings Building, 180 Post Street (1908); the Foxcroft Building, 68-82 Post Street (1908); and the Cadillac Hotel, 380 Eddy Street (1909).

Photo from Meyer & O’Brien lobby. Exact date not determined.

Terra Cotta work by Steiger Terra Cotta and Pottery Works

After the 1906 Fire and Earthquake Bliss & Faville was hired to supervise the reconstruction of the Rialto Building, as Meyer & O’Brien were no longer architectural partners and Bliss & Faville had gained prominence. Bliss & Faville was among the most established architectural firms in San Francisco during the reconstruction period after the Earthquake and Fire.

******

In June 1910, the San Francisco Call newspaper ran this article:

“The reconstruction of the old Rialto building at the corner of Mission and New Montgomery streets has begun. Dr. Hartland Law, the owner, is preparing to spend about $500,000 in rebuilding it on a handsomer plan than the original structure. The old building was erected in 1901 at a cost of $650,000.

The great fire left it a complete wreck. The walls have stood, but the steel frame was so bent and twisted most of it has had to be taken out. New steel columns have been put in from basement to roof. All the steel is being fireproofed with cement this time, instead of with terra cotta, as previously. The fireproof flooring is already in on the two upper stories. All the reconstruction work will be of class A quality throughout. The outer brick work will be cleaned and treated in some way to brighten it up and make it look like an entirely new building. The corridors will be wainscoted with marble and will have a flooring of mosaic tiling. They will be wider and brighter than in the old building. The woodwork of the building will be of oak. Metal doors probably will be put in. Special attention is being paid to the plumbing equipment. There will be a vacuum cleaning system and compressed air supplied to all the offices. There will be four high speed elevators, the contract for putting them in having already been let. The light, heat and power for the building will be supplied from a plant being constructed on a lot adjoining the main building. A special feature will be equipment for sterilizing water for drinking purposes. After the heating process it will be cooled and distributed to every suite in the building by faucets. In this and other ways Doctor Low [sic] has studiously endeavored to make the new building thoroughly modern and up to date in every particular. McDonald & Kahn have general engineering charge of the whole reconstruction work and are letting all the contracts. Bliss & Faville are the architects.”

September 1906

When the work on the Rialto Building was complete, the project was lauded as the building that restored faith in the City. The Rialto Building had been the feature of numerous newspaper articles during the reconstruction period because of its location and because the building shell had remained intact and highly visible.

Tekakwitha Lily of the Mohawk

Posted by Cindy on August 16, 2013

Aug 162013

Mission Dolores Cemetery
16th and Mission
The Mission District

Saint Kateri Tekakwitha baptised as Catherine Tekakwitha and informally known as Lily of the Mohawks (1656 – April 17, 1680), is a Roman Catholic saint, who was an Algonquin–Mohawk virgin and religious laywoman. Born in Auriesville (now part of New York), she survived smallpox and was orphaned as a child, then baptized as a Roman Catholic and settled for the last years of her life at the Jesuit mission village ofKahnawake, south of Montreal in New France, now Canada.

Tekakwitha professed a vow of virginity until her death at the age of 24. Known for her virtue of chastity and corporal mortification of the flesh, as well as beingshunned by her tribe for her religious conversion to Catholicism, she is the fourth Native American to be venerated in the Roman Catholic Church (after Juan Diego, the Mexican Indian of the Virgin of Guadalupe apparitions, and two other Oaxacan Indians). She was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1980 and canonized by Pope Benedict XVI at Saint Peter’s Basilica on October 21, 2012.

The relationship between the Spanish missionaries and the Native Indians is a controversial and difficult subject. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, “Mission Dolores had one of the highest death rates of Spain’s 21 missions in California. Thousands of Indians of bay tribes are buried in the vicinity. Nearly all of them died of European diseases, or overwork, or of the destruction of their culture.” Bret Harte’s California reports that the first interment in the mission graveyard took place as early as 1776. Most of these first Californians were buried beneath wooden markers that have not survived. My feeling is that the Mission decided to put this statue up to placate some of that animosity and serve as a marker for all those un-named.

Father Junipero Serra was nominated for Sainthood and Tekakwitha is a Saint . There is an interesting article about the controversy, and the apparent incongruity to the situation here.

The base reads: In Prayerful Memory of the Faithful Indians.

The artist on this sculpture is unknown, it appears to be cast stone.