Artwork installation has begun on the Metro Orange Line Extension! A few shots of the 27-foot-long ellipses designed by Ken Gonzales-Day for the Canoga Station are below. More information about the artwork is available here.
Thousands of tiny pieces of hand-cut mosaics are installed at one of the new platforms at Canoga Station.
Twenty-seven foot long mosaic artworks are installed at Canoga Station.
Categories: Inside Metro, Metro Art, Projects
^ I believe 1% of the cost of station construction is reserved for public art. It’s nothing new. The same situation exists at most if not all of the Metro stations in the system. Depending on one’s point of view regarding the importance of public art, there will never be “enough” income to justify public art. But keep in mind this 1% figure has helped to employ local artists, artisans, and other workers, and that’s not a bad thing, especially with high unemployment crippling the economy.
“Where will the money come from?”
How about looking for ways to earn revenue first before putting in mosaic art?
How much did it cost Metro to hire four construction workers to add in art which brings in no revenue, when they could’ve used the same number of workers to build a simple newspaper stand which would bring in additional revenue opportunities?
Here’s an example of a newspaper stand in the Berlin Metro:
http://lindsayrgwatt.com/blog/tag/berlin/
Make money first, then install artwork. Not the other way around. It’s common sense.
I disagree Neal B. Yes, the Orange is indeed “successful”, but the busway loses allot of potential passengers because at the end of the day it’s still a bus. The sigma is still there.
Not dense enough for an expensive Red Line extension, yes, but Light Rail would have been perfect for this corridor. It has it’s own complete ROW, so there would be no street running going 55 mph from NoHo to Canoga. The trains would have preemption at all intersections, whereas buses even get red lights at minor intersections. Not to mention you can extend the LRT east to Burbank, Glendale, and the Gold Line in Pasadena.
I think if the Orange Line was built as LRT ridership would 40,000 already.
Yeah, its cheaper, but you get what you pay for. Many areas along the orange line busway are as dense as those along the expo and gold lines. The orange line bus is often packed and most certainly should have been light rail without a doubt. As someone who rides the orange line bus fairly frequently I can say it’s also too slow. This is due to a complete lack of functional signal priority/preemption which would have been a guarantee if it were a rail line due to railroad crossing gates at intersections. Its not too late. The design mistake that is the current orange line can be corrected and It should. Where will the money come from? Well, how about we stop spending hundreds of millions of dollars on useless freeway expansion projects like the 405 widening boondoggle that seems endless. And are 1-5 truck lanes really more important than say, expanding commuter rail services on Metrolink or Amtrak? Come on now…
I would argue that the Orange Line is very successful, especially considering how much cheaper it was to build than a rail line. Besides, this part of the city is not super-dense, so a BRT makes sense.
I also think that the 4 construction workers should have their names mentioned in this article, very good job guys. ( nice hole in pants at the knee )
Just think how more successful the orangeline would be if it was a lightrail!