The design concept for the Oakalla Open Space was based on the idea that there should be a transition from urban form at the corner of Oakland and Royal Oak to natural form on the wetlands at the base of the hill. Entitled Water Spheres, nine patinated aluminum spheres—representing nine planets—are the focal point within a central axial pool in a water reclamation park and bio-filtration marsh. The art piece is a collaboration between Tony Bloom (Sculptor), Jane Durante of Durante and Kreuk Ltd (Landscape Consultant), and George Fry of IBI Group Inc. (Consultant). Since 1995 it has been owned by the City of Burnaby. Artist’s Statement: “My work deals with thresholds and contradictions: between materials, between the rational and the intuitive, the dynamic and the passive, the functional and the non-functional. A question of balance comes into play with the rocking, hinged, opening, or interlocking pieces which are free to move but don’t unless motivated. The addressing of those ironies becomes the point of balance.”