Harmony of The World
Chicago Transit Authority
California Blue Line
Resin tile mosaic
2015
Concept Statement
The large mosaic encompassing the entire ceiling of the stationhouse enhances the experience of being in this transitional space. Like the grand railway station lobbies with their ornate ceilings, this small station serves as a transition point between traveling and arriving or departing. Inspired by the water lilies in Chicago's nearby Humboldt Park, the flowerlike form with spreading petals symbolizes the varied destinations of riders when they exit the station into the neighborhood: to home, work, dining, nightlife, etc.
The underlying tile pattern, or tiling, was discovered in 1974 by Roger Penrose, an English mathematical physicist and philosopher of science. Penrose tiling is known for the beautiful patterns it can generate and the peculiar mathematical properties it possesses: it has fivefold pentagonal symmetry and is non-periodic, meaning that the pattern does not repeat itself. This Penrose tiling was inspired by the 1619 treatise by German astronomer Johannes Kepler, Harmonice Mundi (Harmony of the World).
