Hughen/Starkweather’s site-specific, glass artwork comprises the facade, roof deck, and ceiling of the Union Square Central Subway station in downtown San Francisco. Embedded in the layers of glass is a precise topographic map of San Francisco alongside painted circles that reference average data on the number of people who commute into downtown San Francisco each day. When a commuter enters the station and descends underground into the topography of the city, they create a real-time layering of abstraction (shapes and lines) and the data it is based on (commuters and topography).

The title of the artwork, Convergence: Commute Patterns, also references a convergence as a place where ocean currents meet. Commuter movement is similar to rising and falling tides as people enter and depart a city each day. Similar to a standard data infographic, the larger circles in the artwork represent increased numbers of commuters. The watery texture of the circles hints at rising tides and converging currents in this city located beside an ocean and a bay.

Other maps and data referenced in the artwork include earth movement in earthquakes (the straight connecting lines); and fog (the layers of white topographic lines), a critical element of diverse Bay Area ecosystems. The color palette references the variety of native plants that inhabited this area before 1849.

A project of the San Francisco Arts Commission.