Route Map
Sound Transit Maintenance of Way Yard
Seattle Washington 2016
MOW is the department of Sound Transit that maintains and repairs the infrastructure- the tracks, stations, signals, switches and tunnels of the LINK Light Rail system.
They finally got their own building in 2016, for offices, storage of materials, and workshops.
A map of LINK Light Rail is a drawing of the route, a single line running north to south. This sculpture takes that line, abstracts it, and superimposes it on the landscape in front of the building.
Instead of an imaginary line,the route becomes a city of its own. The sculpture is a depiction of the route, but not a literal one-it is an imaginary version, open to interpretation by each viewer.
All of the stations are there, each represented as a column rising from the landscaping. Each station is unique, a sculpture of its own.
Its a model of the city, the city as it might be.
ts a series of sketches of neighborhoods, in stainless steel. I have lived in several of these neighborhoods, and spent a lot of time in most of the other ones, so this is a very personal view of those places. Ideas, memories, and local landmarks are stylized and re-imagined. The totem pole, for example, is long gone from the Northgate Mall, but it lives on in my mind.
There are common elements that tie the family of stations together- each one has a circular top, the same diameter, a stainless steel disc.
The stations vary in shape, and in height, although they are all roughly human scaled, and refer to classical garden follies in size and shape. They are distributed thru out the landscaping in front of the entrance of the building.
There are 15 columns, including the downtown column which is larger. They range in height from 48” to 72”. All are made from stainless steel which is hand forged, and hand bent and welded.
The construction is a mix of hand blacksmithing and very modern industrial fabrication techniques, adding the hand and the eye to the smooth and shiny stainless steel.
