Central United Oak Park Fire Station #6, 901 49th St. N
Stacking Tower
Thomas Sayres
2003 - Earth Cast Concrete - 24' h, 2.5' diameter at base, 5.5' diameter at top – Exterior
Commission St. Petersburg Art in Public Places Percent for Art
Stacking Tower
Thomas Sayres
2003 - Earth Cast Concrete - 24' h, 2.5' diameter at base, 5.5' diameter at top – Exterior Commission St. Petersburg Art in Public Places Percent for Art
Stacking Tower (detail)
Thomas Sayres
2003 - Earth Cast Concrete - 24' h, 2.5' diameter at base, 5.5' diameter at top – Exterior
Commission St. Petersburg Art in Public Places Percent for Art
Title: Stacking Tower
Artist: Thomas Sayre
Stacking Tower is a conceptual metaphor about the nature of the fire fighting team: that firefighters work in a way which is crucially reliant on each other. As stated to the artist a firefighter at Station 6 “fire fighting involves standing on the shoulders of others.” The monumental size and inverted shape suggest that this idea encompasses not only this fire station and department, but extends to the accomplishments of past generations of firefighters upon which the methods and esprit de corps of today’s fire services are built. By extending upward and outward as it grows wider Stacking Tower implies that it could grow even taller as future generations of firefighters contribute to the Fire Service. Additionally, the tower shape references the traditional architectural feature of the tower that used to be common to all fire stations no
matter what the style of the building. These towers were designed to hang and dry hoses. With the introduction of synthetic hoses the function and the towers themselves have become obsolete.
Stacking Tower is also a landmark for the neighborhood. The creation of cairns, which are stacks of rocks and stones, is an ancient method of marking an important location, whether a crossroad, a meeting place, a landmark. The stacked ‘”stones” at the station’s location on a major corridor (9th Ave.) at the border of two neighborhoods (Central Oaks and Disston) and an intersection with one of the city’s primary north-south corridor streets (49th St.,) marks the cityscape, reinforces the fire station as a reference point for the neighborhood and becomes a modern landmark.
Circular “stones” of varying size and height scattered around the sculpture provide station visitors and pedestrians a place to rest and enjoy one of the few green spaces in the neighborhood.
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