Artists make their pitches to build a bench at Laguna’s Mountain Road

Three finalists for an artist-designed bench at the precipice of Mountain Road beach steps made their pitches to the Laguna Beach Arts Commission Monday night with proposals that shattered any notions of a straight-backed wooden seating area.

The commission listened to proposals from three applicants who approached the project from varying perspectives and use of materials and shapes.

The bench’s location overlooks the ocean and sits close to the Garden of Peace and Love, a memorial to people felled by HIV and AIDS.

Mark Porterfield, a Laguna resident who met his partner at the Mountain Road site, donated the honorarium for the project.

Los Angeles-based Forma Studio’s bench, shaped in a circular pattern with two openings and titled “Laguna Junction,” would be fabricated out of carved stone.

“It’s symbolic in commemorating a site where two individuals met,” Karen Kitayama, a Forma partner and an architect, told the commission. “The bench meets the ground at two specific points. Without each other, the bench could not stand.”

Kitayama recommended marble as the stone of choice, but commissioners questioned its suitability.

“Marble is lovely, but it’s also porous,” Commissioner Pat Kollenda said. “When you seal it, the seal does not last forever.”

Kitayama said she would consider granite.

Michael Stutz’s “Sea Stone Spills On Ocean Step Hill” would be made out of stainless steel strips woven in patterns that allow light to filter through the bench.

“If there is one hallmark with the work I do, it’s a sense of energy and movement,” Stutz, a sculptor and designer who lives in Fallbrook, told commissioners. “The piece looks like a stone, a footprint in the sand, like a wave crashing.”

Stutz said the bench, supported by cross sectional pieces, will require little maintenance other than periodic washing and cleaning of debris.

“There is no opening that is larger than 4 inches,” Stutz said.

Jeanine Centouri, an architect and principal with the Los Angeles firm Urban Rock Design, discussed her piece titled “Angle of Repose.” The bench, made of recycled plastic and bamboo, would include three pieces shaped at different angles to depict a mountain range with color striations.

The varying angles are meant to give a person options for how he or she wants to sit.

“We would install it similar to installing a deck,” Centouri said. “Hidden fasteners go between the boards. You will not see screws. It’s a highly durable material.”

“Can it be cut into?” Commissioner Michael Ervin asked.

Centouri said the boards could be pulled out and replaced if necessary.

An Arts Commission subcommittee will review proposals and recommend one design for commission approval June 26. The City Council would make the final decision on the bench.

bryce.alderton@latimes.com

Twitter: @AldertonBryce