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Vessel

Ed Carpenter

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

A translucent sculpture cultivates emotional connection to a research institution.

Ed Carpenter. Vessel (detail), 2008. Glass, aluminum, stainless steel, concrete, and plantings. Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA. Photo: Ed Carpenter Studio

A basket of light reaches toward the sky outside the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, reflecting the spirit of the institution—optimistic, interconnected, collaborative—and offering a beacon for excellence and hope.

Monumental but delicate, Ed Carpenter’s Vessel achieves both lightness and structural integrity using aluminum, stainless steel, and slender strips of dichroic and beveled glass, its base surrounded by honeysuckle vines that climb its lattice. Working at both an urban scale and a human one, the sculpture is highly visible to passing motorists and pedestrians, and intimately accessible to anyone who walks through the leafy core of the sculpture itself. By day, it changes with the sunlight and weather; by night, it glows with dramatic lighting.

The design for Vessel faced a unique challenge. The sculpture needed to be tall to provide axial views in scale with nearby buildings, but a tunnel running beneath the site meant the artwork had significant weight restrictions. Laminated and tempered safety glasses strengthen the aluminum pieces, creating longer spans at lighter weight than conventional construction methods would have allowed.
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Ed Carpenter. Vessel, 2008. Glass, aluminum, stainless steel, concrete, and plantings. Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA. Photo: Ed Carpenter Studio
Ed Carpenter. Vessel, 2008. Glass, aluminum, stainless steel, concrete, and plantings. Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA. Photo: Ed Carpenter Studio
Ed Carpenter. Vessel (detail), 2008. Glass, aluminum, stainless steel, concrete, and plantings. Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA. Photo: Ed Carpenter Studio

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