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LA Metro Rail Station
Los Angeles, California
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LA Metro Rail
 The
Vermont/Santa Monica Metro Rail Station in Los Angeles, California,
exhibits a unique approach to art in transit. This subway station
is on the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s
Metro Red Line and is one of fifty Metro Rail stations in the system.
Each station includes integrated artwork.
The architectural firm of Ellerbe-Beckett, Inc., led a team that
designed an underground subway station using strong form and textures,
creating interesting station spaces that place an emphasis on both
natural and artificial light. The main entrance is marked by a bold
canopy, and the space beneath is punctured by subtle skylights,
which flood the 42-foot-high space with daylight. As escalators
carry patrons into the entrance, concrete beams overhead rhythmically
reveal polycarbonate and aluminum paintings, while natural and colored
fluorescent light reflects off their surfaces.
 Artist
Robert Millar, working in association with the architect, decided
to incorporate a unique application of art into the concrete elements
of the station by stenciling 10,000 thought-provoking questions
on the concrete walls and structural elements. The unique graphic
nature of the finished product blends the artist’s “mural”
with the structural elements and provides station patrons with both
texture and atmosphere. The process of bonding the questions to
the concrete surfaces was accomplished with the use of a German
paint product from KEIM Mineral Systems. Developed in the 19th century,
the paint is made of potassium silicates and organic pigments that
become part of the concrete surface to which it is applied. The
questions have been coated with a wax-based anti-graffiti coating.
 The
completed project cost $58.6 million and won a coveted Architectural
Design Citation from Progressive Architecture.
Project Credits
Owner: Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation
Authority
Engineer: Engineering Management Consultants
Architect: Ellerbe-Becket, Inc.
Artist: Robert Millar
Contractor: Kiewit-Shea
Concrete Supplier: Calmat
Precaster: Arto Industries
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