CONTINUUM SAN JOSE
Silicon Valley reinvents matter.
Inspired by history, digital technology has transformed our collective vocabulary. The oldest things in the world become new again.
Continuum reveals and celebrates this culture.
The core design element—a monumental, interactive ribbon—dematerializes from beginning to end, illustrating our long evolution from analog to digital technology. The design highlights Silicon Valley’s role in the larger history of communication, and the limitless potential of its future innovations.
A horizontal monument anticipates
a more democratic future.
American monuments are often vertical, architectural statements. Continuum embraces the horizontal landscape, creating a new ground plane for public engagement.
Closely integrating architecture and landscape, the design sparks a dialogue about the history and role of technology in our daily lives. The new park has urban-scale impact and creates an exciting and interactive public space that hybridizes physical and digital experiences.
Site plan and urban links
The design accentuates access to the riverfront while framing views and providing new interfaces for community activities. Throughout the ribbon, materials are linked with gradients of parametric patterning, evoking the “pixel” or the “byte” as the smallest unit of digital information.
Embedded wood seating surfaces refer to the inventions of papyrus and paper, precursors to today’s interactive screens. Facing the Slow Forest, this public bench becomes a space of quiet reflection near the river.
Mirrored surfaces facing the river marks the turn toward the self—and the selfie—in varying degrees of fragmentation. This reflective zone is complemented by the Touch Garden, planted with species that respond to human and animal touch.
The Dissolve Garden is a designated “rewilded” area, where, like the open-endedness of artificial intelligence, ecological intelligence reigns supreme. Over time, plant communities form from seeds dispersed from the nearby riparian corridor by wind or from animals, such as the local and migratory bird population.