Client: City of Kent Parks, Recreation & Community Services
Location: Kent, WA, United States
Completion date: 2021
Artwork budget: $115,000
Project Team
artist
Clark Wiegman
artifact
administration
Ronda Billerbeck
City of Kent Parks, Recreation & Community Services
landscape architect
Connie Reckord
MacLeod Reckord
administration
Bryan Higgins
City of Kent Parks, Recreation & Community Services
Overview
Conceived as a material dialog in iterative form, thematic color and functional ergonomics, stations is a series of exercise sculptures for Morrill Meadows Park Parcourse Trail. Based on a fitness-follows-form model and taking color cues from the new YMCA building, each sculpture provides focused activation of particular muscle groups while creating an iconic form against a natural backdrop. The conceptual core of the project is the idea that the human body conforms to a universal geometry and a vital sense of play that we all share.
Goals
Project goals included creation of functionally-playful interactive exercise sculptures, integration into new parcourse trail and landscaping, formal cohesion with new recreational facility while addressing safety and long-term durability issues. Since the new park has opened (during the pandemic), it has become a vibrant hub of safe, outdoor activities for local children, youth and the rest of the Morrill Meadows community.
Process
I collaborated with the project landscape architects, program administrators and the general contractor to develop an overall approach to the site. This included trail layout, activity sequencing and site integration. We also went through considerable design development and reviews for ergonomics, kinesthetic engagement and safety.