Recharge Chambers

Gloria Bornstein

Regional Communications and Emergency Coordination Center

Home to the Office of Emergency Management and Sheriff’s Office 9-1-1 Communications, King County’s Regional Communications and Emergency Coordination Center is a high-stress environment operating 24/7. The three water features in Gloria Bornstein’s Recharge Chambers aim to soothe and calm the Center’s workers and visitors by connecting to the natural world that surrounds the site.

People passing through the building’s entrance see and hear collected rainwater splashing against a black granite basin, which is perched on a bed of river stones that drain into the Cedar River Aquifer beneath the site. In the south courtyard, a set of seating stones encircle a polished black granite table. On the table’s surface, bubbling water forms an ever-changing pattern of small waves, inviting rest and relaxation like a natural spring. The artwork’s third water feature is a “release chamber” made of four scuppers that channel rainwater from the building to the meadow below.

Continue Reading ›

Based in Seattle, Bornstein (1937-2024) makes prints, drawings, performances, and sculptures in a variety of media. Her public artworks appear at sites around the world, from Washington to Tokyo, and include the 4Culture commission Walk to the Mountain outside Harborview Medical Center and the redesign of the landmark International Fountain at Seattle Center. She also created the bronze whale forms beside the fountain, based on a Salish legend of whales swimming from Lake Union to Elliott Bay.