A $4 million dollar, four piece integrated light installation that took three years to design will top the Salesforce Tower. Plans for the art piece, designed by 61-year-old Dogpatch artist Jim Campbell, were revealed to the San Francisco City Planning Commission yesterday.

Behold our favorite lines from Campbell's artist statement and explanation to the Planning Commission, which he did out of courtesy. They're already installing the lights whether you like it or not.

  • "You can’t get close to it. You only see it from far away."
  • “It will be a diary of the day that you will only see at night."
  • Campbell's work "creates a soft and continuous image instead of a harsh direct image like a Times Square video screen."

Sold! Times Square is the worst.

You can kinda get the gist from Campbell's renderings, but details include perforated aluminum casing for the lights. They will be on the outside of the sheeting and face inward toward the building so that all of the people in the city will see the LED colors bounce off the aluminum and it'll be awesome and add richness to our lives. It won't always look like there are giants trapped at the top of Salesforce. The nine stories of lights will be, they say, "low-resolution moving color imagery. The images would be a combination of pre-recorded images and those taken from cameras surrounding the City."

Salesforce art 2.jpg

The light sculpture is touted to be America's tallest public art installation. The project, commissioned by tower developer Boston Market Properties, is part of San Francisco's “1 percent for art” program that forces developers to spend at least 1% of the cost of each project on public art.

Salesforce Tower was designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli and is slated to open in 2018.

Previously: Salesforce Tower Officially Tops Off; Top Floor To Be Event Space Available For Community Use

Another possible look from the Salesforce Tower's upcoming light sculpture. (Image rendering from artist Jim Campbell.)