Great Mall Station - Valley Transit Authority
San Jose, CA
2004
This 600 foot long bus Island is adjacent to a Light Rail Stop. There are a few small bus shelters on the island, and I was commissioned to build a series of 4 sculptural benches for this location.
The light rail stop is named for the Great Mall, which from 1955 to 1981 was a Ford Motor company factory. I used imagery from cars made in the factory for these benches- There are 2 hubcap benches each 8 feet in diameter and about 6 feet tall, made from forged and fabricated stainless steel. These are based on the spinner hubcaps from 1960's Mustangs made here.
There are also 2 camshaft benches each 26 feet long and 4 feet tall. These derive their design from internal engine parts- camshafts and crankshafts, as well as tailfins from some of the 50's and 60's cars made in the plant.These benches also feature the words "zero" and "one", written in some of the 125 languages spoken in the schools in this area, and relating to the binary codes used by some of the local companies, like Cisco, Apple, Ebay, and others. Forged, fabricated and electropolished stainless steel.
Commissioned by the Santa Clarita Valley Transit Authority
