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California
Gate and California Bench
 The
sculpted granite California Gate provides a sneak peek
of what's waiting for you inside the Science Center. The
images cut into the gate hint at the themes of the four
worlds planned for the Science Center—the World
of Life and Creative
World, which were completed when the Science Center
opened, and World of Ecology and Worlds Beyond, which
are part of the Science Center's future
plans. Look closely, and you'll see that the two rocks
that form the gate frame a space that looks like the state
of California.
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| California
Bench |
The
California Bench sits near the gate. The
waterways of the state are carved into the surface of the
California-shaped bench, so you can touch and trace water's
path. |
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| Sawing
the Gate |
Because
the California Gate and Bench are made out of heavy granite
and required very detailed carving work, some special processes
were used to create the pieces. For example, when faced
with carving the crinkled contours of California, workers
couldn't use a regular straight-cutting wire saw. They used
a special saw that could edge back and forth during the
cut. |
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| Stenciling
an image |
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Carving
images into the stone required a special process, too.
First, artists covered the granite with a flat rubber
mask. Then they copied the artwork onto the mask, and
cut the image out of the mask to make a stencil. When
the stencil was finished, artists pounded the mask flat
to remove air bubbles before sandblasting the image onto
the rock.
The
sandblasting process, which works by carving away pieces
of the stone with a super-high-speed spray of sand, gave
texture and depth to the images in the rock. After sandblasting
was completed, the images were painted to make them stand
out. Artists used air sprayer to cover the stenciled image
with a special stone paint, which gradually soaked into
the granite.
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| Lifting
the California Gate |
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Just
as the creation of the California Gate and Bench called
for special methods, placing them in the plaza required
some creative engineering. Special pipe-and-sleeve fittings
were designed to attach the California Gate to its spot
on the plaza. Pipes were anchored three feet deep into
the ground and stuck up six feet into the air. Holes for
the pipes were drilled into the bottom of the California
Gate.
When
setting up the massive gate, the holes in the bottom of
the gate had to be lined up precisely over the pipes before
lowering the gate into place. The smallest mistake could
have damaged the pipes or the artwork. To make sure
the straps used to lower the gate wouldn't get trapped
underneath it, the gate was lowered the last few inches
by melting ice! The gate was placed on top of the ice
so the straps holding the gate could be removed before
the ice melted. Plus, the special glue that holds the
gate to the pipes was timed to take effect after the ice
had melted completely. Now that's cool!
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