Documented artwork / water sculpture (interactive linear fountain)
Bus Fountain
Credit as documented: Ned Kahn
Ned Kahn's Bus Fountain translates transit movement into a water display above San Francisco's Salesforce Transit Center. Sensors at the bus level activate corresponding rooftop nozzles, so vehicle movement generates the pattern rather than a preset choreography. Kahn dates completion to 2018 and credits architectural, landscape and fountain-engineering collaborators. The Transbay Joint Powers Authority describes 247 jets along a granite pathway. The two official sources disagree about total length: the artist gives 1,000 feet and the authority gives 1,200 feet. Both figures remain attributed.
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At a glance
- Year / version
- 2018
- Materials
- water, fountain nozzles / water jets (247 per TJPA), motion sensors, white and grey granite (pathway, per TJPA)
- Documented setting
- outdoor
- Dimensions
- Artist: 1,000 feet long; sensors/nozzles spaced 3 feet apart. TJPA: 1,200 feet long, 247 jets. Length discrepancy remains unresolved; neither figure is treated as an engineering measurement.
- Dimensions apply to
- Published dimensions for this documented work; component scope and disagreements are retained. Not an installation or engineering specification.
- Availability
- Unconfirmed
Places & versions
Installation history
Historical presentations. A past installation does not establish the current location or suitability for a new site.
Completed 2018, according to artist
Rooftop park at Salesforce Transit Center, San Francisco, California
- Site
- Rooftop park, Salesforce Transit Center
- City
- San Francisco
- State / region
- CA
- Country
- United States (inferred; not independently confirmed)
Installation details checked 2026-10-17.
Materials and construction
Kahn identifies Pelli/Clark/Pelli Architects, Peter Walker and Partners Landscape Architects, and fountain engineer Dan Netz as collaborators. Each embedded motion sensor activates the nozzle directly above it.
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Sources
- nedkahn.com ↗ · Checked 2026-10-16
- nedkahn.com ↗ · Checked 2026-10-17
- www.tjpa.org ↗ · Checked 2026-10-16