Penumbra is a work of Public Art situated on Market Street, San Francisco's urban spine. In addition to our scope as designers of the Serif condo interiors, lobby, common spaces and amenity spaces for this large new mixed use development, IwamotoScott was commissioned by Group i to create this signature piece of immersive sculpture.
Situated in a courtyard between the historic Warfield Theater and the Serif residences / Line hotel, Penumbra's form takes cues from the scientific phenomena of penumbra, 'a partial shadow between regions of full shadow and full illumination'.
Penumbra functionally defines the passage to the second lobby entrance to the Line hotel from Market Street, and offers shade to the outdoor seating for the hotel's restaurant, Tenderheart.
Aesthetically, Penumbra establishes a dialogue with the adjacent faceted building design by Handel Architects, as well as the irregular site geometry.
Daylight is refracted, captured, amplified and reflected through Penumbra's modulated array of perspectivally-transformed volumes.
The suspended, hollow overhead modules are organized in a radial pattern in plan, with a subtly double-curved underside in section - whereby the aggregation of modules forms a shallow vaulted space benath.
A series of sculptural Y-shaped columns march along the long sides of the courtyard space, supporting a lattice of radial steel plate beams from which Penumbra's precisely crafted aluminum modules are suspended.
The complex spatial/material quality and phenomenal effects of Penumbra gain from Penumbra's precise detailing, craft and subtle two-tone coloration.
Looking up through Penumbra's apertures, the variously-angled tapering aluminum modules frame the sky, surrounding urban fabric and space, and the changing light of day.
