Flooring Is Art and a Gallery to Prove It

The project team’s vision for the featured artwork at Leawood Aquatic Center was to create blown-glass art that reflects an ethereal underwater experience. The site offered two areas for installation.

First, they designed a six-foot-tall, free-standing glass shadowbox with various hand-blown rondels visible from both sides. The artwork’s radiant color and light shift with the sun and the seasons. The team also added internal lighting for nighttime visibility. Because the free-standing shadow box is exceptionally heavy and subject to direct winds, a team of artists and designers encased the work in tempered glass and bolted it to a concrete base. They also included internal ventilation to circumvent rising temperatures that might stress the artwork.

The second artwork comprises a five-piece series of flat and fused glass panels for the transom windows of the indoor pool area. The facility’s leadership chose the color palette for both creations, unifying their designs. Now finished, the two-part installation brings a fun, serene aesthetic to the complex.