Park and Ride at Overlake

Project Partners
Public Art Coordinator Barbara Luecke
Barbara Grygutis, 2002
Client King County Metro Transit: Ron
Posthuma, Jan Briggs, Nancy Gordan,
Gary Prince
Developer King County Housing
Authority: Dan Watson
Architects Hewitt Architects: David
Hewitt, Dan Moon, Timothy Spelman
Kris Snider (Landscape Architect)
Construction Oversight Lorig
Associates LLC: Steve Bolliger
Installation, May 2002
Art Fabricators Fabrication Specialties,
Seattle, Washington (sculptures);
Lighting Design Collaborative,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (light fixture
design); Invia Industries, Inc., Renfrew,
Pennsylvania (light box construction);
L & L Electric, Mukilteo, Washington
(electrical); Walsh Construction, Seattle,
Washington (footings)
All Photos this page by Michael Young, YaM Studio
Park and Ride at Overlake
Barbara Grygutis
Design Team Artists
Since government-sponsored public
art programs began, the evolution of
public art and our understanding of
the role artists play in helping to define
communities and shape the character
of the built environment has undergone dramatic growth and change.
Design team collaboration means that
artists work with the other members of
the design team—traditionally, architects, engineers, and landscape architects—to incorporate their ideas and
perspectives into the total project planning and design. The results transcend
the boundaries of individual disciplines
and expand the creative possibilities.
Public Art Staff for the
Overlake Park and Ride
Barbara Luecke
Senior Project Coordinator
(206) 296-4137
Fax (206) 296-8629
Email Barbara.Luecke@metrokc.gov
Website www.metrokc.gov/exec/culture
Call (206) 296-8676 for
alternate formats of this
information.
Photo by Spike Mafford
Artist Barbara Grygutis, Tucson,
Arizona
The King County Public Art Program
develops permanently sited, portable
or architecturally integrated public
artworks of the highest quality, using
funds from the 1% of county construction budgets. Since 1973, the mission
of the program has been to ensure
that the work and thinking of artists is
incorporated into King County buildings, public places and infrastructure.
Public Art
The Overlake Transit Oriented
Development featuring 308 units of
moderate-income apartment homes
and a King County Park and Ride facility is a joint initiative of: King County,
King County Housing Authority, City
of Redmond, and Federal Transit
Administration.
Standing Leaves, Falling Light,
a public artwork integrated into the King County
Park and Ride at Overlake Village
© Barbara Grygutis, all rights reserved, 2002
Five perforated stainless steel and galvanized metal,
illuminated sculptures. 17’h x 4’w x 2’d each
Public Art
Art Creates Welcoming Beacon for the Park and Ride at Overlake Village
Photo by Spike Mafford
Artist Barbara Grygutis has created a series of sculptures for King County’s
Overlake Park and Ride that welcome commuters using the transit facility and the
residents who have found a home in the new 308-unit moderate income housing
development. In the fall of 2000, artist Barbara Grygutis was selected to join the
design team from a national call-for-artists. The public art component was funded
through a percent for art dedication from King County Metro Transit.
Standing Leaves, Falling Light
This unique pilot project merges transit operations with housing targeted for
teachers, nurses, policemen and working families. The design team felt this integrated transit and housing project warranted an experience that only an artist
could create.
Barbara Grygutis
Ms. Grygutis worked closely with project partners, architects, and engineers to
first determine where the artwork would be sited, then to determine what type
of artwork would best enhance the site given the project parameters. By drawing
on the surrounding buildings’ regular cadences of vertical lines, on the natural
environment’s patterns of trees, and on the ability to vary effects through lighting,
the artist created a focal point within Overlake Village that unites the surrounding elements and elevates the area’s overall aesthetic and quality of life.
Standing Leaves, Falling Light is a series of five perforated stainless steel and galvanized metal sculptures in a stylized leaf shape. Inspired by the natural beauty
of the northwest and Redmond’s high tech identity, Grygutis chose the leaf image
and selected industrial metals for their construction. The 17 foot high sculptures
are placed 32 feet apart—mirroring the buildings support columns and spanning
more than 150 feet.
Photo by Spike Mafford
More Artwork by Barbara Grygutis
During the daylight hours the perforated metal skin is almost transparent, inviting
the view of sky and trees to be intertwined with the stainless steel forms. At dusk
each sculpture is illuminated from within by a photocell lighting mechanism. The
light in combination with the cutout metal patterns creates a luminous moiré effect.
Barbara Grygutis, of Tucson, Arizona, is an accomplished artist active in the
national public art arena since 1985. She has served as lead artist in more than
30 projects across the country. Her work may be found in parks, transit facilities,
road projects and public plazas in Ohio, New Mexico, Minneapolis, New Jersey,
Arizona and most recently Redmond, Washington.
The Village at Overlake Park and Ride is located at 2650 – 152nd Avenue
Northeast, near the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Washington.
Photos Courtesy of the Artist
“I wanted to create an
artwork that could be
seen and enjoyed by
both transit riders and
residents driving and
walking home. It was
important to me to
create a rhythmical,
sequence of events
that could be seen
from all corners of the
transit waiting area.”
Real Tools, 1992,
St. Paul Technical
College, St. Paul,
Minnesota.
Steel, hand tools,
Mankato stone, concrete, bronze, and
handmade ceramic tile.
Real Tools
Railgate
Railgate, 1998,
Hamilton Station,
Hamilton, New Jersey.
Aluminum and light.