0:00:16.160,0:00:21.020 [Sarah Sze: Designing A Subway Station] 0:00:22.220,0:00:26.100 A blueprint is traditionally[br]a two-dimensional drawing 0:00:26.100,0:00:29.140 that helps you understand[br]three-dimensional space. 0:00:31.920,0:00:33.000 As a place of transit, 0:00:33.010,0:00:36.280 I wanted all of the different entranceways[br]of the subway station 0:00:36.280,0:00:39.140 to mirror how we move through space. 0:00:39.140,0:00:41.100 It's this kind of speed of movement-- 0:00:41.469,0:00:44.620 these transitions into different[br]kinds of environments 0:00:44.620,0:00:47.160 that we take for granted and we do repetitively. 0:01:04.380,0:01:07.300 It's really an incredible thing to see, 0:01:07.310,0:01:10.590 an actual new subway station come from 0:01:10.590,0:01:13.380 a core driller to a realization. 0:01:17.180,0:01:19.560 The Second Avenue subway extension 0:01:19.560,0:01:23.900 is a project that was first thought about[br]in, I think, 1920. 0:01:24.740,0:01:27.120 This is a major, major construction project. 0:01:27.130,0:01:29.060 So, it's nice to be part of a project 0:01:29.060,0:01:31.520 that is so beyond you, 0:01:31.520,0:01:34.000 and you're really part of a much larger system. 0:01:35.180,0:01:37.880 I've been working on it for almost ten years, 0:01:37.889,0:01:40.579 from the application process to now. 0:01:40.579,0:01:42.859 I've done a lot of public artwork, 0:01:42.859,0:01:45.450 and MTA Arts and Design was incredible. 0:01:45.450,0:01:47.760 They completely get behind the artist. 0:01:49.480,0:01:51.140 It's a huge number of tiles, 0:01:51.680,0:01:54.740 and it's a very technical installation. 0:01:57.020,0:01:58.240 There are so many decisions, 0:01:58.249,0:01:59.959 so I did feel a kind of pressure. 0:01:59.959,0:02:01.799 I'm going to have to see that every day, 0:02:01.799,0:02:03.829 and my great grandchildren might see that. 0:02:03.829,0:02:04.829 [LAUGHS] You know? 0:02:04.829,0:02:07.689 In a kind of very, very permanent way. 0:02:07.689,0:02:09.700 [Sarah Sze, "Blueprint for a Landscape"] 0:02:10.540,0:02:11.500 --[POLICE OFFICER] It's beautiful! 0:02:11.500,0:02:12.560 --[SZE] Thank you so much. 0:02:12.560,0:02:13.840 --[POLICE OFFICER] You mind if I just have[br]one picture with you? 0:02:13.840,0:02:14.600 --[SZE] Sure, of course! 0:02:15.920,0:02:16.900 --[POLICE OFFICER] Come on, do a good job. 0:02:16.900,0:02:17.740 --Do a good job, rookie! 0:02:17.740,0:02:18.520 [ALL LAUGH] 0:02:24.180,0:02:28.900 [SZE] Subway stations are one of the[br]most democratic places that you can find. 0:02:28.900,0:02:29.959 You know, you have local, 0:02:29.960,0:02:32.980 you have global audiences going through them. 0:02:34.480,0:02:36.660 I think it's an important idea that 0:02:36.660,0:02:41.060 the city values that experience also[br]as an aesthetic experience. 0:02:45.680,0:02:49.560 I was thinking about gravity differently[br]in each entryway or exit. 0:02:51.040,0:02:52.620 This was the first one I did. 0:02:53.980,0:02:56.300 This has this kind of one-point perspective 0:02:56.310,0:02:57.860 speeding down through space. 0:02:57.860,0:02:59.300 I was thinking a lot about 0:03:00.240,0:03:01.720 the Russian Constructivists, 0:03:02.020,0:03:03.060 the Italian Futurists. 0:03:03.200,0:03:05.540 You know, they were obsessed[br]with this idea of 0:03:05.550,0:03:08.860 the acceleration of the experience of time, 0:03:08.860,0:03:10.000 mostly through transit. 0:03:17.420,0:03:19.060 For this entryway, 0:03:19.460,0:03:21.220 you're literally diving down through 0:03:21.220,0:03:23.480 the surface of the pavement and the city-- 0:03:23.490,0:03:25.570 but to play around with it more in terms of 0:03:25.570,0:03:28.410 diving down through a surface, 0:03:28.410,0:03:30.040 almost like when you dive into water. 0:03:33.620,0:03:35.640 I photographed the environment, 0:03:35.640,0:03:38.280 and this is sort of the beginning of[br]Hudson Yards. 0:03:38.860,0:03:42.520 I walk along that route to go to my studio. 0:03:43.220,0:03:46.820 It was important to me to juxtapose it with[br]a hand mark 0:03:46.820,0:03:49.640 so that it didn't feel computer-generated[br]throughout. 0:03:52.000,0:03:55.100 One of things that was hard to understand[br]until it was made 0:03:55.100,0:03:57.460 was how you would see the stations[br]from this level. 0:03:58.240,0:04:01.070 If you came out here and this was your entrance, 0:04:01.070,0:04:03.880 they are different enough,[br]so you can really tell 0:04:03.880,0:04:05.260 that that's the southwest corner 0:04:05.260,0:04:06.630 and this is the northeast corner. 0:04:06.630,0:04:08.140 So that is a wayfinding thing. 0:04:12.340,0:04:14.360 I wanted vertical landscapes 0:04:14.360,0:04:18.380 that you would kind of anticipate[br]having an opportunity to see the detail, 0:04:18.380,0:04:21.850 and then you would pass into a moment of emptiness, 0:04:21.850,0:04:24.140 and then you'd come back to this density again. 0:04:32.880,0:04:34.460 So this is the mezzanine. 0:04:34.460,0:04:35.880 And it was really interesting because actually 0:04:35.880,0:04:38.040 the mezzanine was added on over the years. 0:04:39.120,0:04:41.660 They said, "Okay, we have this opportunity[br]to do the mezzanine." 0:04:41.660,0:04:43.900 And I had actually done the three stairs first. 0:04:44.980,0:04:46.740 I thought, here's where I can, sort of, 0:04:46.740,0:04:51.000 really explain the idea of how things move[br]in space. 0:04:52.200,0:04:54.580 Just do something very simple. 0:04:54.580,0:04:55.810 One gesture-- 0:04:55.810,0:04:57.069 a piece of paper-- 0:04:57.069,0:05:00.500 and then have it mirror, sort of,[br]the way air moves. 0:05:00.500,0:05:02.870 Like the gust of wind when a train comes. 0:05:04.180,0:05:07.080 As we move, we're pushing the air around us. 0:05:10.320,0:05:12.080 When I applied to colleges, 0:05:12.080,0:05:14.960 I applied with an essay that was[br]about the fact 0:05:14.960,0:05:17.960 that I would always draw people's portraits[br]on the subway. 0:05:18.749,0:05:21.700 So now it's kind of great to have drawings[br]on the subway. 0:05:21.700,0:05:22.860 [LAUGHS]