Public Art City of Shoreline #9: Cloud Bank

Photo by Steven H. Robinson

City of Shoreline Public Art Collection
Shoreline City Hall lobby 17500 Midvale Ave N
OPUS Northwest LLC design-build 1% construction funds 2009

Cloud Bank   Leo Saul Berk. artist. Acrylic and vinyl coated steel

Leo Berk rode his bike into Shoreline on the Interurban Trail, visited the Shoreline Historical Museum and was fascinated by the story of Shoreline's 14 neighborhoods that officially incorporated into a city in 1995. His design for a suspended sculpture in the building's main lobby includes 14 independent shapes that coalesce into one intricate form as a visual metaphor for the City's creation and the independent and collaborative nature of the original neighborhoods.

Photo by Steven H. Robinson

The plastic sheet material the artist chose for the sculpture shows a pale tint on its face but focuses brilliant color through cut edges. The necessary suspension cables are also a striking part of the artwork, acting as "reverse rain" with over 500 vinyl-coated cables extending from the tops of the sculptural forms to the ceiling. The sculpture, which hangs over the "living room", may also be viewed from above, looking out from in front of the second floor elevators.

Although it was designed to help create a more intimate space in the two-story lobby, it lets plenty of light through with its open grid construction. Cloud Bank is also visible to passers-by at night through the building's glass curtain wall that faces the intersection of Midvale Avenue N and N 175th.

--Text courtesy City of Shoreline