Client: Sound Transit

Overview

Plaza sculptures play sonic duets with wind, water and field recordings. LED ‘light river’ tracing the course of the historic Duwamish River runs the length of fret board, providing nighttime main entry landmark.  Forms reference musical instruments, split hazelnuts and divided worlds while providing an iconic curvilinear counterpoint to the expansive gridded plaza and station.

Goals

Sculptural forms draw inspiration from the Duwamish naming of the area known as Tukwila (‘place of hazelnut trees’) and the preindustrial course of the nearby river (visualized in RGB LED light on a giant wayfinding fretboard). The dynamic ‘butterfly’ roof of the adjacent light rail station collects rainwater which is deposited into a vault beneath each sculpture. A series of underground weirs amplify the waterfall sound resonating with field recordings collected from the artist’s kayak journeys down the nearby Duwamish River. Visitors are greeted by this harmonic natural duet on the station plaza.

Process

We worked extensively with the design team (architect, landscape architect and engineers) to develop site interface, plaza lighting approach and infrastructure integration. We also coordinated conceptual approach with the other station artist (Tad Savinar) and system artists to assure metaphoric and visual linkage with the rest of the Blue Line.

Additional Information

Commissioned by Sound Transit for Tukwila International Station. Hewitt Architects, Murase LA, KPFF and Rosewater, engineers.