Emerald City - Haddad/Drugan

Where is it?

160th Loop Ramp Underpass

You will see this artistic landscape when traveling to the airport by car or by light rail.

About the Art

Designed by local artists, Laura Haddad and Tom Drugan, Emerald City is both landscape and art. Situated on either side of the roadway leading to the airport, the artwork consists of a clock tower outfitted with solar panels, whimsical vine-covered towers, and mesh topiary cages set amid colorful rolling berms. Illuminating the vine towers at night, green LED fixtures reiterate the concept of the “green city,” a reference to Seattle.

"Emerald City connects the evergreen ethic of the Pacific Northwest with the sense of possibility and wonder associated with travel." – Laura Haddad and Tom Drugan

The Details

Artists

Laura Haddad and Tom Drugan

Date

2011

Medium

Mixed-media landscape (stainless steel, gabion baskets, granite, earth, plants, LED lights, photovoltaic panels)

Did you know?

At peak production, the photovoltaic panels generate 1.8 kilowatts which is then fed back into the grid to help power the illumination features.

About the Artists

Laura Haddad and Tom Drugan form an artist team whose work is about phenomenology and perception. Fusing the temporal with the spatial and the conceptual with the functional, Haddad and Drugan strive to create environments that encompass people in a holistic aesthetic experience dynamic at different speeds, scales, vantages, light conditions, and seasons.

Information courtesy of the artists

Short Bios

Laura Haddad and Tom Drugan have collaboratively created site-specific public art since 2001. Often integrating pieces into functional infrastructure, in libraries, transportation systems, urban plazas, and parks, the Seattle-based artist duo creates landscape art that is driven simultaneously by the limitations and the possibilities of a site.

Laura Haddad earned her B.A. in history from Bowdoin College in Maine and later attended UC Berkeley to receive her master’s degree in landscape architecture. Tom Drugan obtained his bachelor’s degree in architecture from the University of Colorado. He holds an M.A. in landscape architecture from Harvard University.

Similar Artwork

Work by the Artists

- Land-Slide: a pocket park, featuring a sculpted steel slide and sand pit, is found in the White Center neighborhood.

- Reflex Solaris: an environmental piece at Richmond Beach Saltwater Park interacts with the position of the sun.

- Groundswell: a water feature at Shilshole Bay Marina shimmers in the sunlight with a shape reminiscent of both a boat’s hull and the ribs of a great whale.

Learn more about other local commissions by this artist team by clicking on the links below.

Emerald City - Haddad/Drugan

This piece combines art and landscape to create an entry drive portal to and from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.