Public Art Projects

Third Street Light Rail Public Art Program Overview

The public art program associated with the Third Street Light Rail system was planned to bring artists into the design process early enough to have a significant impact on the overall architecture of the project. Because the project consists almost entirely of transit platforms, the design possibilities for both urban designers and artists is necessarily narrowly defined, while at the same time the length of the light rail line provided the potential to introduce elements that would identify distinct districts through a range of thematic approaches.

Due to the complex design considerations required by the light rail’s lengthy traversal of a succession of several diverse neighborhoods, the Arts Commission decided to commission 3 artist teams, each of which would focus on one of three different sections of the light rail line. For design purposes, the Arts Commission divided the line into three relatively distinct areas:

1. Mission Bay/Potrero Hill/Central Waterfront: the northern segment of the project, a formerly industrial neighborhood scheduled to undergo extensive redevelopment, to include construction of a biotechnological branch of the University of California at San Francisco, and PacBell Park, the new Giants baseball stadium, currently under construction at the northernmost end of the light rail line;
2. Bayview/ Hunters Point: the middle district, a primarily African-American residential neighborhood adjacent to a naval shipyard that operated at its fullest capacity during World War II, and the planned renovation of the Forty Niners football stadium with a adjacent new shopping mall;
3. Visitacion Valley/Little Hollywood: the southernmost segment of the transit line, a small, diverse residential neighborhood.

The three artist teams worked collaboratively with an urban design team hired separately by Muni to create an overall system wide identity as well as distinguishing characteristics unique to each neighborhood, with special features on stations with more anticipated passenger use, referred to as town center stations. For each artist team, the artist selection panel designated a team leader to act as a liaison between the Arts Commission and their other team members. The artist teams have researched the historical, ecological and cultural context of their assigned neighborhoods.

A community advisory group organized by Muni specifically for the Third Street Light Rail Project met on a regular basis for several years. The Arts Commission participated in presentations at these meetings, as well as at community meetings in each of the three neighborhoods, discussing the scope of the public art proposed for this project. The artist teams and the urban design team worked closely with both a large technical advisory group and a smaller urban design advisory group comprised of staff from Muni, the Arts Commission, the Planning Dept., and the Dept. of Public Works. As the agency overseeing the redevelopment of both Mission Bay and Bayview Hunters Point, the Redevelopment Agency’s input was incorporated, as well.

Artist Team Slection Process »