Muni brings art to an industrial building

700 Pennsylvania

Potrero Hill

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The Muni Ways and Structures Facility is located at 700 Pennsylvania Street at the base of Potrero Hill. The facility centralizes several Muni functions, including, among others, a machine shop, welding, carpentry, painting, and locksmith. Although the size and shape of the complex is unchanged from its former role as an overhead-door factory, it has been given a colorful new life through the work of San Francisco artist Robert Catalusci. The exterior walls are now painted ox-blood red and graphite with silver and copper-green accents. In addition to custom paint design, the artist designed massive steel gates and four 18-square-foot sculptural panels over the building’s four roll-up doors. The three-dimensional ‘waffle’ pattern of the gates and panels is painted in high-gloss silver that is slightly reflective so that the structures appear to change with the light throughout the day.

Catalusci’s gate and panel designs and bold paint application were inspired by the industrial and transportation orientation of the complex. He selected color to symbolize the ethnic diversity of the design team and Muni workers. For instance, he chose red as the color of international workers, and graphite and silver for their associations with industry and metal work. The artist worked in tandem with city architects, in particular Howard Wong, AIA, and the rest of the design and construction team throughout the five-year renovation project. In addition to the custom paint design, Catalusci, who hails from a family of builders, drafted plans for the huge gates and produced final drawings.

As a fine artist, Catalusci usually creates multi-media and large-scale three-dimensional sculpture based on architecture. He holds a B.F.A. from the San Francisco Art Institute and has exhibited regionally, in several private venues and at the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery and the Capp Street Project.

Robert Catalusci’s work on the design and construction of the 700 Pennsylvania Muni Ways and Structures Facility was commissioned by the San Francisco Arts Commission for the San Francisco Municipal Railway. The commission is a result of the city’s percent for art ordinance, which provides for an art allocation of 2% of the cost of construction of new or renovated city structures.