As a studio assistant for the sculptor, Chakia Booker, using 2D drafting and 3D modeling software, I conceptualized her vision for two competition entries for public art project — the Treasure Island Building One Plaza and the Yerba Buena Island Hilltop Park. Noted for her use of rubber tires and stainless steel, Chakaia’s work examines the transformation of everyday objects into expressive environments. Her work tackles issues such as race, femininity, and evolution; and it is featured in collections throughout the world.

Treasure Island Building One Plaza Public Art Project

A valley of textured wave forms, Chakaia Booker’s sculpture for the historic garden at Building One Plaza is intended to be an interactive piece. The forms allow visitors to meander and touch a material—rubber tires–that is both familiar and foreign. As an urban adaptive reuse project focused on cycles of renewal and rebirth in and around the San Francisco Bay Area, Chakaia use sine curves to create apertures that highlight these points of ecological change.

In order to present the themes of this sculpture to the public, I designed a series of renderings and site plans to highlight the relationship between the sculpture, the location, and one’s body. 

Yerba Buena Island: Hilltop Park Public Art Project

Situated atop a former water tank, the sculpture designed by Chakaia functions as a portal that simultaneously addresses Yerba Buena Island’s past use and its role in future ecological change in the Bay Area. To convey the narrative of ‘the sculpture as nature,’ I designed a series of site plans and collage renderings, which use landscape as a means of place making.