Client: Kaiser Permanente

Overview

Kaiser Permanente’s parking structure transforms into a visual delight. A prominent 3-story parking structure owned by Kaiser Permanente sits on the corner of a major entry point to the Koreatown-Northgate (KONO) District in Oakland, CA. For more than a decade it remained covered in graffiti. With the structure being in a gateway location, Kaiser wanted to turn the facade into a powerful large-scale mural that would stop people in their tracks. Our Local Edition Creative team knew this was a project that needed to be approached strategically with the proper design and the proper muralist team.

This jaw dropping mural with graffiti-styled roots spans approximately 4,000 square feet and was created completely with aerosol paint. Taking inspiration from the many different cultures of the neighborhood and the City of Oakland, eleven masks were designed based on the primary languages spoken in the community. The masks overlap signifying unity in diversity and a dragon was incorporated along the top of the design symbolizing strength and protection.

The project has received critical acclaim from Kaiser, KONO, and the entire community. It has become a symbol of pride that has made a major positive impact in the area.

Goals

The goal of this commissioned artwork was to provide a full transformation to the parking structure from its blighted condition into an artwork of community pride and cultural significance. Displaying elements of Oakland's style, graffiti roots, and multi-cultural symbols, the design embodies the essence of what makes the City of Oakland, CA unique.

Process

This was a project management intense case study. Starting with an agreed upon design concept with our client that then moved into a design mock up, we enlisted our extremely talented lead artist "Hyde" to bring the concept to life. Hyde is a master artist with incredible attention to detail and is widely admired by artist peers for his mural work. He designed the masks for this project while contributing artists "Vogue" and "Urban Aztec" designed the dragon, lettering, and filigree.

As we shared the design comp with our partners we had to help them understand why there was very little room for revisions as any major deviation would put the mural at high-risk of being vandalized. This admittedly took some convincing since there were many people involved in the approval process that wanted to add their individual requests into the design, but ultimately Local Edition was entrusted to move forward due to our reputation and well-known body of work that we've produced. The outcome left our partners in awe of the final result and extremely proud to be involved in the process.