Emulating the fluidity and optical properties of water, the environmental artwork intuitively leads you into the building’s circulation plan, offering a serene place to gather and find family or simply spend a contemplative moment.

Images

VIEW FROM THE UPPER MEZZANINE

VIEW OF DETAIL FROM ABOVE

THE ARTWORK IS HIGHLY RESPONSIVE TO VARYING LIGHT CONDITIONS

THE ARTWORK IS HIGHLY RESONSIVE TO VARYING LIGHT CONDITIONS

Description

This artwork is conceived as a reflecting ‘pool’ of light that suggests the calming and ever-changing qualities of water and its poetic qualities of light. This ‘pool’ is in the form of a geometrically pure 35-foot diameter disk with a rippled surface comprised of a field of cast glass elements that are optically clear. The form and surface combine to refract, reflect and transmit both ambient and direct sunlight.

As the building occupants move around the atrium or along the balconies above, the sculpture constantly changes in appearance. Within the “peaks and valleys” of the cast glass, light takes on a dynamic quality, creating an ever-shifting composition - an animated surface of ‘liquid light’.

The sculpture draws our attention with its initial suggestion of water, but the levels of detail and range of scale may also suggest ideas about 3D mapping, big data visualization and the processes of transforming observation into knowledge and knowledge into medicine.

Client: Stanford University Hospital