Canopy

Moda Tower, Portland, Oregon
2020
Steel, aluminum, laminated colored glass
27' x 13' x 15' (seven ceiling-mounted sculptures)
Commissioned by the Regional Arts & Culture Council and Unico Properties

Made for the main lobby of Moda Tower, Canopy is a group of seven ceiling-mounted sculptures built from clusters of mirrored and laminated colored glass leaves. The installation honors Portland's Forest Park, with its beloved trees and miles of trail, and brings the idea of forest bathing, at least visually, into a busy downtown lobby.

Each sculpture reflects light and casts colored patterns on the walls and floor. As the daylight changes, color moves across stone and skin and surrounds visitors in shifting layers that behave like shadows from a canopy of trees overhead. At dusk the work carries through the tower's glass entry and reads from the sidewalk as a field of light held against the curtain wall.

Canopy transforms the whole room through carefully planned wall treatments, permanent staged LED lighting, colored art glass, and discreet installation methods. The sculptures are anchored to structure and were designed by our structural engineer to account for load and point stresses, which leaves the floor below entirely open. The glass was chosen to hold its color and clean easily for the life of the building.