Blu at Folsom, San Francisco, California

Fragments

Fragments is a sculpture for a mixed-use development at 631 Folsom Street in San Francisco. The physical conditions of the site were integral to the sculpture’s design. This urban location, adjacent to the AT&T building and its plaza, is the home of a 30-story condominium with ground-floor retail space and a restaurant. The design of the artwork/water feature is intended to be welcoming to both the inhabitants of the 631 Folsom building and inclusive of their urban neighbors.

Richard Deutsch divided the condominium’s courtyard and the AT&T plaza next door with a 50′ x 10′ fountain, accessible from both sides, featuring a waterfall and five large sculptures of white marble that evoke architectural fragments or ruins. The contrast of the sculptures’ chiseled and geometric surfaces creates rhythm between the forms and energizes the negative space between them. The concept of the sculpture stems from the artist’s long-held fascination with fragmented ruins. Central to Deutsch’s work is the exploration of forms as they relate to time, age, erosion, and loss. The sculpture Fragments was inspired by the ruins created by the 1906 earthquake throughout this neighborhood.