Windbloom

Permanent Public Artwork for the new Alief Community Center.

Windbloom is a supersized flower atop plant like tendrils. An overhead sculpture that stretches like a 30 foot wide umbrella, is meant to be experienced as a colorful shading device or from a distance as a supersized flower map. Inspired by the native site ecology as an open coastal prairie, Windbloom creates a colorful map of the site’s prevailing winds with “petals” of colorful resin. The resin flower is held aloft by an array of painted carbon steel with customized attachments. The entire structure is envisioned as “plant-like” with the structural supports taking on the form of plant tendrils and flower calyces (the plant part between flower petals and leaves). The work is grounded in the site with a small circular plaza of cast concrete within the butterfly garden of native wildflowers and grasses. A cast stone bench provides a place to sit and be immersed in the sculpture’s play of colored light as the sun shines through. The community is invited to engage with the work both through firsthand experience of the piece and through the community engagement wind map diagrams housed in the public library. Windbloom gives form to the site’s ephemeral ecological qualities and fortifies the new community center as a place for connection, reflection, and discovery. 

Project Team: Metalab, Joe, Andrew, Lana, Jack

Craft Structural, Structural Engineering

Merge Studios, Fabrication Lead

Cabstand Collective, Fabrication support

In collaboration with: the community of Alief, SWA Landscape Architects, EYP, Houston Mayor’s office of Cultural Affairs, Houston Arts Alliance, Houston Public Library, Houston Parks and Recreation Department, Houston Health Department, Houston General Services Department.