SeaTac, Washington, USA, 2016.

Cloud is a suspended sculpture at Sound Transit’s Angle Lake light rail station, a mile and a half south of Sea-Tac Airport. The kinetic, illuminated Cloud hovers over the elevated station platform that straddles S. 200th Street. The sculpture is 48-feet-long and 26-feet-high and composed of over 6000 acrylic discs in shades of white, violet, yellow, orange, pink, and silver.  The discs hang from stainless steel cables strung horizontally between large curved structural columns that act as conceptual arms holding the Cloud. From a distance the five-inch diameter discs coalesce into a 3D cumulus cloud shape. When viewed up close the gently fluttering discs create an immersive environment of light and motion.

Wind moves and spins the discs individually as sunlight causes them to shimmer and glow, making the Cloud serve as a sculptural barometer of local weather. At night colored LED floodlights illuminate the Cloud in sunset hues that slowly fade to blue as a train approaches the station. The art heightens people’s perception of their surroundings and creates a memorable landmark that is visible from east and west approaches along S. 200th Street and from airplanes landing and taking off at SeaTac International Airport.

Cloud was commissioned by Sound Transit, engineered by KPFF, and built by Fabrication Specialties Ltd.