Downtown Transit Mall Showcases Vibrant New Art and Architectural Elements
New Shelters, Streetlights and Origami Fountains Enhance Visiting, Shopping and Eating in Santa Monica

SANTA MONICA, CA. - - Life-sized Origami animals turned into drinking fountains, carved granite map tiles and Parisian-inspired bus shelters are the visual fireworks of the City of Santa Monica's new Downtown Transit Mall.

The transit mall is a 6-square block area bounded by Ocean Ave., Broadway, Seventh St. and Santa Monica Blvd. The $15-million project created dedicated lanes for the Big Blue Bus, which will speed workers, visitors and shoppers who take the bus around Santa Monica more rapidly.

"We wanted to take the concentrated energy on Third St. and push it out to the businesses and restaurants on surrounding streets," said Stephanie Negriff, Acting Director of Transportation Services for the City of Santa Monica. "And this is not just public art for art's sake. The elements were integrated into the design of each functional feature. This seamless integration of art and architecture will be a lasting legacy that improves the quality of life and commerce in Santa Monica."

The new art and architectural elements will be showcased during the transit mall's grand opening on Saturday, June 22, at 12 noon. The Santa Monica Street Party will feature numerous musical acts at stages on the Third St. Promenade (at Broadway and at Santa Monica Blvd.) and on the Santa Monica Pier. A cooking stage with culinary demonstrations can also be found on the Promenade between the two musical stages and a 15,000 square-foot Kid's Stage will be situated at Second St. and Santa Monica Blvd. Free passes to the Wild Rivers Theme park will be given away, one per family, for the first 10,000 riders of the Big Blue Bus. Even better, all passengers on the Big Blue Bus will ride for free for the entire day. For detail information, please Click here.

Among the highlights of the transit mall's art and architecture are four Origami figures- a sea urchin, fish, frog and dragonfly-cast in bronze and hovering above drinking fountains where 2nd and 4th Streets traverse Santa Monica Blvd. and Broadway. Outlines cut into in the adjacent pavement represent an unfolded sheet of Origami paper. If the pavement could be folded along the cut lines, it would form the animal at that particular intersection, according to Robin Brailsford of Brailsford Design, an artist on the transit mall's design team.

In addition, there are 11 new structures patterned after the metal grid work used in turn- of-the-century Paris architecture. There are seven new bus shelters and four new arbors that play off of the motif. "The shelters on the westbound streets have blue glass panels and the bus lane is paved with a blue-colored crushed glass to symbolize the city's ocean and marine elements. The shelters and bus lanes on the eastbound streets use green glass to represent the land and plant life," Brailsford said.

In parallel, the arbors, already planted with vines that will sprout blue flowers, have glass panels etched with seasonal hexagrams from the I Ching, an ancient Chinese text that blends poetry and philosophy. The shelters are equipped with touch-screen kiosks for bus timetables and other transit information. And scattered all around the transit mall's Big Blue Bus stops are granite tiles with a portion of a Santa Monica city map sandblasted into them. There are 35 such tiles that help riders and pedestrians orient themselves in various neighborhoods.

For more information about the art and architecture of the new transit mall, or for details of the June 22 Santa Monica Street Party, call (310) 451-5444