Arts and Culture

Photo of Skywalk by Ray King
Skywalk
Ray King
2006 - Six 20ft long arcs - Dichroic Glass, Steel – Interior
Purchase St. Petersburg Art in Public Places Percent for Art

Skywalk
Ray King
2006 - Six 20ft long arcs - Dichroic Glass, Steel – Interior
Purchase St. Petersburg Art in Public Places Percent for Art

Skywalk
J.W. Cate Recreation Center

“Simple, elegant, functional and oriented to light” describes both the artwork and the Wannamacher Russell building for which it was designed. The six, twenty-foot dicroic glass arcs hang in the lobby and beneath five clerestory windows reinforcing the architectural rhythms of a lobby and long hallway punctuated by clerestories that pop up above sections of glass walls that allow light to pass through the building from the sides and above.

Several hundred hand polished glass cylinders laminated with dichroic film are inset into the lobby and hallway floor. The arcs reflect and project light and color onto the corridor floor and walls and rooms. Each piece of the glass projects a color and its complementary color. Sunlight is one of the signature climate elements of Florida and Skywalk is as much about the light as it is the designed objects. The appearance of the arcs and the reflections vary with the angle and intensity of the sun with perceptible changes from morning to afternoon, summer to winter.

The tops of the arcs are visible from the exterior. From the Interior the lower tips appear into view as one walks down the hallway The hundreds of glass cylinder jewels, laminated in dichroic film, are inset into dark floor tile below the arcs. They add more light activity and create a vague sensation of walking on light.

Location 8