Construction has started on San Francisco’s next Living Innovation Zone – designed by Youth Art Exchange’s young architects, in collaboration with the San Francisco Public Library and Asian Art Museum.

The Art/Lit LIZ collaboration began in the summer of 2015, aspiring to strengthen a sense of community and collaboration in the Civic Center. The partners invited the students of Youth Art Exchange to create a public art experience that would engage passersby and encourage new interaction. Through frequent meetings, public events, prototyping, and a series of design-review panels, the youth designed a sculptural installation evoking a stylized dragon form with a changing mural canvas. Over the next two years, the sculpture and area around it will be programmed with activities and new mural openings intended to:

• Engage residents in the Civic Center that do not typically attend arts events.
• Spark interactions with local artists and the community.
• Demonstrate the potential of the arts to enhance public life.
• Foster an active, creative, and safe public space in an area that has previously been underutilized.

We’re so excited to see it come to life!

To see some behind-the-scenes footage and hear about the project directly from our youth, check out this video by Carmen, former YAX young architect/filmmaker/youth advisory board member:

More on the Art/Lit Liz:
Interactive ‘Living Innovation Zone’ Headed To Fulton Street This Summer on Hoodline
A New 18-Foot Dragon Installation Will Go Up in Civic Center on Curbed