“I Am the Bear” is a monument inspired by the famous Grizzly Bear of California. This strong symbol represents the community of San Jose, wherever you come from, your age or culture, you can identify with this bear. As a popular symbol it is also easily communicated to the rest of the world.

During the day, the structure’s skin — proposed to be made of solar panels — would make it look like a bronze and silver sculpture that’s also gathering data about its environment, including temperature, rain, traffic and noise.

At night, that data would be transformed into light, creating a different lantern every evening.