SITE, MEMORY, REFLECTION, 1994

Blue cast glass, Brazilian blue granite, gold leaf, black polished granite, copper, stainless steel, polished glass, dimensions vary. 

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Koll-Obayashi Corporation, South Hope Street, Los Angeles

34°02'58.48"N 118°15'21.78"W

 

Site, Memory, Reflection was conceived as part of the City of Los Angeles One Percent for the Arts program, a complex redevelopment project that approaches the site as a single piece within the larger puzzle of the city. Albuquerque integrated the work into the language of the surrounding architecture and urban environment, creating a series of interconnected elements that respond directly to the site's history, geometry, and context.

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The work consists of six elements. Bronze starbursts embedded in the street connect the project to the surrounding city fabric. From the sidewalk, a line of blue glass ascends the center of a staircase and leads into a plaza, where a fifty-foot polished black granite monolith stands as the focal point of the installation. Monolithic in scale and proportion, the granite form echoes the neighboring office tower behind it. A gold sun disk medallion on its surface references the pyramid crowning the adjacent Central Library, while subtle blue neon lighting at the rear of the monolith extends the visual path established by the blue glass line below.

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The plaza is anchored by two complementary sculptural forms. At its north end stands a stepped pyramid, while at the opposite end a stainless steel fountain mirrors its shape. Albuquerque developed these forms through a dialogue with the site itself; the negative space created by the fountain informed the geometry of the pyramid, creating a reciprocal relationship between solid form and void.

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Beneath the staircase lies the Memorialization Room and Walkway, a space dedicated to the memory of the Church of the Open Hand, which occupied the site from 1915 to 1985. Square in proportion and crowned by a gold-leaf dome, the softly illuminated room contains a polished black granite circle inset with a photo emulsion of the Earth. The gilded dome is reflected in the granite surface below, creating a symbolic dialogue between heaven and earth. Here, Albuquerque replaces the traditional sacred image of the church with what she describes as humanity's most sacred image: Planet Earth. Bronze doors inscribed with patterns of letters and numbers, along with a black granite walkway inlaid with bronze elements, lead visitors into the space. A video installation further documents the history of the church and the broader history of downtown Los Angeles churches.

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Through the integration of sculpture, architecture, light, memory, and symbolism, Site, Memory, Reflection transforms the site into a meditation on place, history, and our relationship to the urban and planetary environments we inhabit.