Monument to Rain
Sans façon
Georgetown Wet Weather Treatment Station
A 35-foot clear cylinder turns rain into theater.
Beginning in April 2025, a giant transparent column will rise from the ground outside the Wet Weather Treatment Station in Seattle’s Georgetown neighborhood like a cylindrical display case—for rain.
On rainy days, the clear column will stand lit but empty, casting a glow on the rain falling all around it. When the rain outside stops, it will begin to fall inside the column, matching the quality and intensity of the area’s most recent rainfall. Rain will continue inside the column until precipitation occurs once more—maybe mere moments later, maybe months later. The column will illuminate the rain inside, turning the ever-present rain into a beacon for the neighborhood.
Scheduled for completion in summer 2025, Sans façon’s Monument to Rain will not only capture the fleeting beauty of water making its way to earth, it will underline the place of humans within the water cycle. Georgetown covers 2.649 square miles; an inch of rain over that area yields 121 million gallons of water. Large rain events can overwhelm the CSO system and combine rainwater with untreated sewage. The station intercepts this flow and can treat up to 70 million gallons of sewage and stormwater daily, releasing the treated water into the nearby Duwamish River, an important habitat for salmon and other species.
Artist duo Sans façon are currently based in Calgary, Canada. Since 2000, they have been creating work around the world that responds to the relationship between people and place. Monument to Rain was developed in collaboration with El Dorado, located in Kansas City, MO, and Portland, OR.
