U.S. 101 Interchange Project - Capitol Expressway/Yerba Buena Interchange

This coming Friday there will be a ribbon cutting ceremony for the completion of the pedestrian/bike overpass at Capitol Expressway and 101 in San Jose, California. This ribbon cutting will also celebrate the contribution of local middle school students to the development of the art enhancements for the Tully/101 pedestrian/bike overpass. Photos of the final transit art can be found at this Flickr set. The project was made possible by a generous loan of HP stylus tablets from the Krause Center for Innovation at Foothill College. Three classes of 6th grade students at Renaissance Academy at Fischer participated in this project in the fall of 2011. I conducted the workshop series in the art classes of Mr. Jesus Guerra. This project was a program of the VTA in collaboration with the San Jose Office of Cultural Affairs.

Tamale radial pattern design inspires laser cut steel pattern on entry gate pillar of pedestrian/bike overpass.

A student photo of a neighborhood fig tree was the source image for the pattern generated in the software tool Repper. The design inspired the pattern for concrete impressions on street dividers.

Student photos of the local neighborhood included images of Reid Hillview Airport. A student pattern created in Repper inspired the laser cut steel pattern included on gateway pillars to the pedestrian/bike overpass.

Past blog postings on the student work process:

http://okadadesign.blogspot.com/2011/11/student-pattern-reflections-on.html

http://okadadesign.blogspot.com/2012/01/student-patterns-for-freeway-art.html

http://okadadesign.blogspot.com/2011/11/it-is-interesting-challenge-to-begin-to.html

Past Blog postings on the fabrication process:

http://okadadesign.blogspot.com/2013/11/youth-art-in-street.html

http://okadadesign.blogspot.com/2013/11/student-art-on-street.html

http://okadadesign.blogspot.com/2013/09/progress-made-on-freeway-overpass-art.html