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Cradle is a 2010 public artwork by Ball-Nogues Studio on the east-facing wall of Parking Structure 7 on 4th Street, Santa Monica: 335 mirror-polished stainless steel spheres, 39 feet wide and 36 feet high, hung on cables like an enormous Newton's cradle.
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Cradle
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Site-level location · 34.0144° N, 118.4940° W
FIELD GUIDE
The story
A wall of mirrored steel balls hangs from a city parking structure in downtown Santa Monica. Cradle, by the Los Angeles studio Ball-Nogues, is described by the City of Santa Monica as a 'gravity-defying' work, 39 feet wide and 36 feet high, made of 335 mirror-polished stainless steel spheres on the east-facing wall of Parking Structure 7 on 4th Street. Each ball hangs from a cable attached to a point on the wall and is held in position by gravity and its neighbours, so the piece works structurally like an enormous Newton's cradle; as a whole, the city says, the spheres form a surface suggestive of foam or sea life.
Designboom reported that the permanent work was installed on Tuesday 27 July 2010 on a structure at Santa Monica Place that it says was originally designed by Frank Gehry, and credited the studio's Benjamin Ball and Gaston Nogues. Santa Monica Daily Press described it in 2013 as one of the city's most celebrated public artworks, alongside Chain Reaction and the Wheels mural.
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WHAT TO EXPECT
Cradle hangs on the outside wall of a city parking structure and is seen from the street on 4th Street in downtown Santa Monica. It is part of the City of Santa Monica public art collection; the structure's address is 350 Broadway.
ACCESS
On the east-facing exterior wall of Parking Structure 7 (350 Broadway) on 4th Street, downtown Santa Monica. It is public art viewed from the street; no entry to the structure is needed.
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