The Gateway to Los Angeles (Twin Dragons)

2015

Steel, aluminum, LEDs, electronics, concrete, stainless steel cablenet

Pergolas across two bridges: Los Angeles Street and Main Street, spanning the 101 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles 100′ feet each

Commissioned by the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs and CalTrans

LOS ANGELES STREET PERGOLA: The gateway grows the visual language of highway infrastructure into an organic form at the scale of natural phenomenon. Aluminum “nodes” embedded with LEDs fixed to the canopy illuminate at night reviewing data collected of the daily vibrations along the bridge.

Envisioned as a responsive infrastructural element, the sculpture provides shade as well as electrical power and seismic data to those in its proximity. The fluid form of the canopy and its nodes simultaneously evoke the classic waves along Southern California beaches while taking cues from the New Year’s Dragon that parades annually through the streets of nearby Chinatown.

MAIN STREET PERGOLA: Steel pergola designed to sway overhead in response to footfalls from pedestrians below – creating a wave that travels before and behind them as they traverse the 101 freeway. This physical response from the city infrastructure signals to pedestrians that their actions have impact even in this automobile-centric city. 

Once in motion, this pergola too may be experienced as a dragon of another kind: the Plumed Serpent (Quetzalcoatl), a tribute to the nearby historic El Pueblo, the birthplace of Los Angeles.

Collaboration with Oliver Hess and Ned Kahn

Photos by Oliver Hess