Client: Westbank

Overview

We are transforming how glass art is experienced by bringing it into the realm of large-scale art and architecture. Glass artist John Hogan designed a veil of glass discs that together create thousands of luminous moments, casting patterns of light and shadows that change with the time of day and year.

The glass will not act as aloof works of art, but as permanent architectural elements that will also form an integral layered detail, part of a larger visual ensemble. They rise to the challenge of evoking the look and feel of a veil, draped and flowing over the architecture.

Set in tension on all sides of the podium, with minute vibrational movement in the wind, each glass disc will act as both prism and reflector – each a unique landing point, interacting with the light that strikes it in different ways.
In recognition of the condition of lightness, softness and of layering that the artist is creating, the building itself is kept simple and quiet. Much like an art museum; the architecture creates the conditions to showcase and elevate the art.

Goals

As one of the largest permanent installations of a single artwork in downtown Seattle, the podium of First Light will be ringed by an installation of glass discs strung along steel cables, designed by glass artist John Hogan. The glass encircles the workspace levels, creating dynamic, ever changing patterns of light.

The prospect of working with Westbank on First Light, a project spanning a quarter of an entire city block, is an unprecedented chance to test the experience of glass art at the building scale. John Hogan’s work will be incorporated throughout First Light - in veils around the podium and the amenity space, in the residential lobby, and in a secret garden on the roof. His current designs for the podium veil feature digitally-cut disks of tempered glass strung at intervals along lengths of steel cable.

Heavy’s goal on this project is to safeguard the creative vision while contributing design and technical knowledge to bring this creative feature to life. As an integrated art piece, this project is designed to playfully interact with both the building occupants and community passersby with its ever-changing light refractions through the day.

Process

When Westbank and the interior designers at James KM Cheng architects began the design process for First Light, they started off by asking a series of questions. What is the nature of light here, and which colors are most inspiring under them? How could the textures and details within a new tower build on connections to Seattle’s strong maritime and aviation heritage? How could the finishes and furnishings of the building’s interiors express the sentiment that this is a design for Seattle, and nowhere else?

With the unprecedented scale of this feature, it was vital to create full-scale mock-ups to ensure the size and tilt of each disc resulted in the envisioned light reflections. Heavy worked closely with the artist to take the idea for a veil pattern and come up with the design, engineering, fabrication, and installation processes.

The installation was particularly challenging as the discs had to be slotted into place from one end of the steel cable and then individually scooted up to it’s exact final position. The mock-up was also tested for its resistance to and interaction with the winds and rain of the Seattle weather to ensure this feature is built to last.