Client: Spear Street Capital

Location: Sunnyvale, CA, United States

Completion date: 2018

Artwork budget: $813,000

Project Team

Artist

Stephen Galloway

Stephen Galloway Studio LLC

Art Consultant

Chandra Cerrito

Chandra Cerrito/Art Advisors LLC

Architect

SmithGroup LLC

Engineer

Novum Structures

Overview

Element: Grove, is a 4000 sq. ft. artglass façade on the new headquarters of 23andMe in Silicon Valley, CA. The artwork creates a dynamic architectural enhancement that refines the identity of thIs prominent building. Using contemporary styling and focusing on the walnut tree, a historically important crop of the area and the actual campus location, the artwork links the Valley’s innovative present with it’s agricultural past.

Required to meet the City of Sunnyvale’s percent for art mandate, the original developer chose to commission this site-specific, integrated artwork. The facade serves to enhance the public space as well as the campuses identity.

Goals

The artwork, Element: Grove, is meant as a primary design feature of this new corporate campus. Fully visible from the main boulevard, the artwork brands the building and the site. To create the sense of the facade belonging to the site, the facade's format was designed to be in perfect proportion with the building.

Process

This project demanded deep collaboration through all phases. Many options were developed by the artist and worked through the architect and developer to fix the design direction. That design was further refined during a sampling process including the fabricator, the engineer and the artist. Finally, the artist spent 1 week in China working with the fabricator to manage the final production and quality control.

Additional Information

The composition is derived from a walnut tree, informed by the former life of the property, a once thriving fruit and nut grove, and a piece of the larger story of agriculture in the Santa Clara Valley that has since evolved into Silicon Valley. The artwork is scaled for appreciation from inside the building, from the grounds, and from the street.