University of California San Francisco’s design team saw an opportunity for artwork on the façade of a parking structure serving adjacent medical buildings in Mission Bay. The architects specified a seven-story high 20-foot-wide architectural mesh panel to shield the elevator shaft on the busy 3rd Street side of the building. This mesh would become a canvas onto which an artist’s site-specific image would be printed for a long-term installation.

Chandra Cerrito / Art Advisors was hired to lead artist selection and contracting, oversee artwork design and approval, and help coordinate with construction. Through a robust artist selection process involving numerous stakeholders – architects, project administrators, UCSF leadership representatives, doctors, and patient experience experts – UCSF selected the acclaimed Bay Area artist Kota Ezawa. It was a delight and an honor to work with Ezawa.

Over a series of highly engaged design reviews, Ezawa presented and refined the ultimate design entitled Peace Piece, an uplifting image of a boy flying a kite emblazoned with two dove icons. The artwork’s sky is transformed with colorful concentric circles inspired by an abstract work by 20th century artist Sonia Delauney. Facing the children’s hospital across 3rd Street and adjacent to a new clinic building, this artwork is both a neighborhood landmark and a source of hope for patients, their families, and caregivers.