ILLUMINATE SF
SAN FRANCISCO AT NIGHT: MODEL ART MAP
Lisa Gemmiti (2011)
Permanent
Yerba Buena: 181 Third Street, W SF Hotel Lobby (view map)
Architects for the interior of the W Hotel designed the modern lobby with a San Francisco theme, and they needed a sculptural piece to represent The City at night. Using photographs as inspiration, Lisa Gemmiti and her team sculpted San Francisco at Night: Model Art Map with precision and artistic license. The topography was machined with a 2.5x vertical exaggeration to emphasize the changes in grade. 2,000 LEDs in four colors were installed on four circuits in order to set the intensity of each circuit in place. A little fun was added by using red LEDs to represent points of interest in San Francisco, and a single purple LED designated the W Hotel.
Best Viewing: Walk in the Howard Street entrance to view this piece behind the illuminated check-in desks. It's installed on the wall against patterned, perforated panels that represent San Francisco's celebrated fog.