How to Map Metropolis II’s Interwoven Roadways and Train Tracks Through Its Miniature Buildings

Map Metropolis II by tracing visible roadway and railway segments, anchoring them to miniature buildings, and marking each apparent crossing as a connection, an overlap, or unresolved.

The task is to preserve the scene’s spatial relationships: which route bends around a building, which passes behind it, and where separate levels appear to intersect. A useful record can leave hidden stretches unresolved while accurately describing everything visible. The method below combines a view-based drawing with short connection notes.

What establishes Metropolis II as the reference?

Chris Burden’s Metropolis II is a kinetic sculpture built around a steel framework interwoven with eighteen roadways, including a six-lane freeway, train tracks, and hundreds of miniature buildings. LACMA identifies specially designed plastic roadways as the surfaces carrying the miniature cars. These details establish the scene’s essential components and distinguish its road network from its structural supports. LACMA, “Metropolis II” (https://www.lacma.org/press/metropolis-ii)

The conservation account by Mark Gilberg, Alison Walker, and Richard Sandomeno describes buildings made from materials including construction blocks, wood, glass tile, stone, and acrylic. It also distinguishes eight railway loops with train sets from five end-to-end trolley routes. That distinction matters when recording movement: a visible railway segment does not automatically imply a circuit. “Fast and Furious: Operation, Maintenance, and Repair of Chris Burden’s Metropolis II at LACMA” (https://www.getty.edu/publications/keepitmoving/case-studies/3-gilberg/)

These sources establish the artwork’s construction. They do not establish the exact arrangement visible from an unspecified viewpoint. Use them to identify components, then let the particular view being recorded determine positions, overlaps, and connections. The drawing procedure here is an editorial synthesis of the cited observation techniques, rather than a published route plan for the sculpture.

How do you establish the view before tracing routes?

Begin with one view and keep its boundaries fixed. Draw a light frame around the portion being recorded. Note whether the view looks down onto road surfaces or shows them more nearly edge-on. Use page-relative directions—left, right, upper, and lower—unless an actual orientation is available. Do not assign compass directions from appearance alone.

Place a few recognizable anchors before drawing the network. Choose building silhouettes and exposed framework corners that are clearly distinguishable in that view. Preserve their relative positions and heights. Avoid choosing several nearly identical buildings as the only reference points; later notes need to identify their locations without ambiguity.

Reduce buildings to their main visible forms first. York University’s drawing exercises recommend identifying basic shapes, adding those shapes until the object is recognizable, and introducing detail afterward. Applied here, that means establishing the building masses before filling in small surface patterns. York University, “Drawing Essentials Series” (https://www.yorku.ca/colleges/ccsc/drawing-essentials-series/)

As an illustrative labeling choice, call three visible anchors B1, B2, and B3. These labels carry no claim about the sculpture’s official layout. Add a brief descriptor beside each, such as its outline or visible surface pattern. If you change viewpoint, make a separate sketch with its own frame; a new angle may reveal a connection while changing the apparent spacing of everything around it.

How can you keep roads, rails, and supports distinct?

Make an identification pass before a connection pass. Follow each visible element far enough to decide whether it is a roadway surface, railway track, structural member, or unresolved linear feature. A single narrow line in a crowded area may not contain enough detail for classification. Leave that uncertainty visible.

The National Gallery of Art describes contour drawing as reducing objects to simple lines and forms. For this scene, use contours to record the edges that separate a route from nearby buildings and supports. Establish those boundaries before adding shading that could obscure them. National Gallery of Art, “Explore the Basics of Drawing” (https://www.nga.gov/educational-resources/explore-basics-drawing)

An illustrative notation system could use the following conventions. Keep its key beside the drawing so that the marks remain understandable later.

• Roadway: draw the visible outer edges of its surface; add lane divisions only where discernible.

• Railway: show paired rails and cross-ties only where those features are visible; otherwise identify the segment with a written label.

• Support: trace the exposed structural member and label it separately from the transport routes.

• Unresolved feature: retain its visible contour and add “type unclear.”

Do not let a convenient symbol create extra geometry. Two lines used to denote a railway are a drawing convention unless the two rails themselves are resolved in the view. Likewise, a broad road surface should not acquire an assumed lane count because another part of the artwork has six lanes. Preserve visible width changes, curves, and slopes individually.

How do you distinguish an apparent crossing from an actual connection?

Treat every apparent crossing as a question to resolve. First follow one route toward the meeting point, then follow the other. Inspect their edges, relative heights, and the surface between them. Two paths meeting at the same place on the page establishes a projected intersection; further evidence is needed to establish a traversable connection.

Use three outcomes when annotating the drawing:

• Connection visible: the view shows a continuous joining surface or railway junction between the segments.

• Overlap visible: one element passes in front of or above another, with discernible separation.

• Relationship unresolved: the relevant surface or junction is hidden, too small, or otherwise unclear.

York University explains overlap as one object partially hiding another. Apply that observation directly: stop the obscured contour at the foreground edge and resume it only where it becomes visible again. This preserves the evidence for front-to-back order. York University, “Drawing Essentials Series” (https://www.yorku.ca/colleges/ccsc/drawing-essentials-series/)

For an illustrative example, suppose a roadway appears to meet a railway beside B2. If the road’s edge continues across the view while the rail disappears behind it, record that interruption. Describe the road as being above the rail only if elevation evidence supports that conclusion. If the critical area is concealed, write “apparent crossing; connection unresolved.” This example demonstrates the decision process without assigning a crossing to Metropolis II’s actual layout.

Keep the observations local. A road appearing higher on the page may be farther away rather than physically elevated. A neighboring support may help explain a visible height difference, but its presence alone does not prove which route it carries.

How do miniature buildings help locate hidden segments?

Use buildings as boundaries for visibility. Trace a route until it disappears at a building edge, then mark that stopping point precisely. If another segment emerges elsewhere, record its position independently. Similar width, direction, or color can suggest continuity, but concealment may prevent confirmation.

Negative space offers a second way to check placement. York University defines it as the space between, within, and around objects, sharing boundaries with their outlines. In this drawing, examine the open shapes between routes and buildings: the gap beside a curve, the opening beneath an elevated segment, or the narrow interval between two structures. Copy only the gaps present in the view. York University, “Drawing Essentials Series” (https://www.yorku.ca/colleges/ccsc/drawing-essentials-series/)

These spaces help preserve the density of the scene. If a gap becomes too wide in the drawing, the roadway and building may appear unrelated. If it closes entirely, they may appear to touch. Compare each important opening against its neighboring building rather than estimating every distance independently.

Record material relationships after the outlines are stable. Distinguish a smooth route surface from a patterned façade or an exposed support where the difference is visible. Use appearance-based descriptions such as “reflective tile-like face” when the specific material cannot be identified. The documented material list does not establish the composition of every individual building in a particular view.

As an illustrative drawing choice, reserve a small amount of hatching for one clearly visible surface texture and leave route interiors comparatively clear. The National Gallery of Art identifies hatching and crosshatching as ways to describe form, tone, and texture. Keep such marks subordinate to the edges needed to trace the network. National Gallery of Art, “Explore the Basics of Drawing” (https://www.nga.gov/educational-resources/explore-basics-drawing)

How should you record motion without inventing a route?

If motion is visible, distinguish a vehicle’s observed movement from the stationary route drawing. Add an arrow only to a segment where direction has been observed. A still image can establish position but may leave travel direction uncertain.

For a sequence, use successive small views with the same anchors. Record the vehicle’s visible position, its last position before concealment, and its next observed appearance. Do not fill the interval with an assumed path. If the same vehicle cannot be distinguished after it reappears, leave its identity unresolved.

The conservation account describes cars being lifted by magnetic conveyor systems and then descending under gravity. It also explains that the end-to-end trolleys reverse direction at their route ends. These documented mechanisms are useful background, but include a lift, descent, or reversal in the visual record only when the relevant change is actually observed. “Fast and Furious: Operation, Maintenance, and Repair of Chris Burden’s Metropolis II at LACMA” (https://www.getty.edu/publications/keepitmoving/case-studies/3-gilberg/)

Finish by retracing every recorded segment from one visible endpoint to the other. Check that each claimed connection has visible support, each concealed interval remains identifiable, and each building retains its position relative to nearby routes. The completed record should let a reader follow the same interwoven roadways and train tracks while recognizing exactly where the view stops providing an answer.

Sources

• “Metropolis II” — Los Angeles County Museum of Art (https://www.lacma.org/press/metropolis-ii)

• “Fast and Furious: Operation, Maintenance, and Repair of Chris Burden’s Metropolis II at LACMA” — Mark Gilberg, Alison Walker, and Richard Sandomeno, Getty Conservation Institute (https://www.getty.edu/publications/keepitmoving/case-studies/3-gilberg/)

• “Drawing Essentials Series” — Calumet & Stong Colleges, York University (https://www.yorku.ca/colleges/ccsc/drawing-essentials-series/)

• “Explore the Basics of Drawing” — National Gallery of Art (https://www.nga.gov/educational-resources/explore-basics-drawing)