Caltrans Transfer 2005
The Caltrans District 7 Headquarters horizontally towers over the hundredth block of Main Street in Downtown Los Angeles. The acclaimed architect, Thom Mayne, offers this new addition to the growing set of downtown modernist monoliths. The 1.05 million square feet (slate.com) of concrete slabs, galvanized steel, glass, computerized mobile screens, and more, represents a kind of monument to transportation housed with the states’ bridge and highway engineers. The slick structure connotes speed and movement with its interior parallel neon lines evoking the clichéd time lapse imagery of a bustling street at night. The emphasis on “good” design seems slightly paradoxical to the ineffectual freeway interstate system of Southern California. In response to this phenomenon, I built a representational model of the Caltrans building attached the model to the roof of my car, and documented this vehicle-building negotiating its way through the city. The project is meant to illuminate both the building’s intentions and shortcomings.