Arcana was built like a stage, inspired by the spirit of Bauhaus—Oskar Schlemmer’s experimental Triadic Ballet in particular, along with some structural elements used by the great Josef Albers while teaching in the same school.
What was really amazing is how, together with the architecture, we thought deeply about the shifts in light throughout the day and how they will create different kinds of atmospheres—making a spotlight stage around the hours of the afternoon, when the sun is hitting directly the wall and it’s moving.
Another important aspect was the intention to make the space feel welcoming—a place where students could hang out and brainstorm. I decided the artwork would embrace the wall and wrap around it—not as a backdrop, but as something that holds space. It creates continuity, a sense of being held while thinking, resting, or exchanging ideas.
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An immersive glass and metal site intervention at the Interdisciplinary Engineering Building (U. Washington), creating a dynamic, stage-like wraparound environment that embraces and shapes an ever-changing experience through light and perspective. Vibrant glass panels interact with metal silhouettes, forming layered compositions that shift depending on the viewer’s position, both indoors and from the surrounding outdoor spaces. Inspired by Oskar Schlemmer’s Triadic Ballet, where the human form is reimagined as spheres, cones, and cylinders, it translates this geometry into a structural language of engineering—integrating form, motion, and perception.
Fabricators: Glasmalerei Peters and Viso. was commissioned by the University of Washington for their Interdisciplinary Engineering Building and is being managed through the Washington State Arts Commission.