Atlantic/Central Base
A multi-acre transit hub features integrated artworks for both employees and passersby.
The Atlantic/Central Base is a 24-hour employee services center for King County’s Department of Metro Transit. It combines two bus bases—Atlantic and Central—where some 1,200 drivers and other staff pick up route assignments, take breaks between shifts, socialize, train, and stock up on supplies. Buses and trolleys have been serviced at this site since 1941.
In 2004, a major expansion and renovation of the base doubled the capacity of the yard, located in Seattle’s industrial area, near the Chinatown-International District, historic Pioneer Square, and the two stadiums that are home to the Seahawks, Sounders, and Mariners. As part of this significant overhaul, 4Culture hired artist Barbara Grygutis to create an art plan that identified sites for creative intervention along the perimeter of the base as well as in and around the facility itself.
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Artworks developed for the base include Christian Moeller’s Newsreaders , which transforms a block-long fence with enormous portraits of citizens reading the news; Susan Zoccola’s Bloom, a Fibonacci-inspired sculptural façade on the employee parking garage; Motion Song, Julie Berger’s pedestrian bridge leading to the parking structure; and ‘Round and ‘Round , Norie Sato’s labyrinthine lobby artwork and green screen sculpture for the operations building.
