The Cloud at Angle Lake Light Rail Station

This shimmering, glittering art installation at the Angle Lake light rail station in SeaTac marks the beginning or an end to any journey. Named “The Cloud” to represent a 3D cumulus cloud when viewed from a distance, this installation works with the sun and wind to create a destination that is uplifting to riders, pedestrians, and passersby.

Watch the Seattle Southside Scenes Video on the Cloud at Angle Lake Light Rail Station

Sometimes it's hard to distinguish the destination from the journey. Such is the case with the suspended sculpture at Sound Transit's Angle Lake Station, known as "The Cloud". Commissioned by Sound Transit as part of the program which allocates construction funds for art projects, "The Cloud" was created for the new Angle Lake Station when it opened in 2016.

Artist, Laura Haddad: "I'm Laura Haddad. I've lived in Seattle for the past 25 years. 'The Cloud' is made up of over 6,000 individual acrylic disks. They're 5 inches in diameter and most of them are white, but there are also some in sunset colors. And these discs are suspended from stainless steel cables that are about 50 feet long. We began with, you know, sketches and little renderings. We were really conscious about the spacing of the discs, wanting to give them enough room so that they could spin freely, so we built a mock-up that we had in our backyard for a couple of years and every time it would get windy, I'd run out and look at it. We started out, believe it or not, thinking we'll make them out of glass but, you know, that would have been a disaster. So we sized it to fit into our pickup truck and we drove down Airport Way in Georgetown to kind of test run it."

Art Program Manager at Sound Transit, Barbara Luecke: "Because of Laura's particular skill set, she made models of the station and it really helped city staff and some of the key business owners around there envision more of what was going to be happening."

Laura: "Once design was done, we spent about a year producing the artwork. We had a couple of goals and one was to create something that was very iconic and acted as a beacon for the station so it would draw you and also be a landmark for the City of Seatac. But we also wanted to create an artwork that would be experiential and something you could really observe while you're waiting for a train."

Barbara: "It's the experience of being there underneath the movement of it and the color of it."

Laura: "I really like to think of our public artworks as things that are enabling collective experiences so a wide group of people are experiencing this artwork and have different perceptions. Everyone brings a new kind of feeling to it."

Barbara: "Art in everyday spaces is a way to uplift people."

Laura: "And it really, I think, becomes something that holds the whole community in a way.”

View "The Cloud" at the Angle Lake Light Rail Station in SeaTac.

Acknowledgements

Seattle Southside RTA couldn't have developed this program without the support of our community. We would like to thank the following people for their support in the creation of this content:
Laura Haddad, Artist
Barbara Luecke, Sound Transit
Barbara McMichael, SoCo Culture