Connecting Community Identities

From architect Keith Wilson and Committee Chair Thorns Craven - Tacoma, Washington is home both to internationally known glass artist Dale Chihuly and to the Museum of Glass: International Center for Contemporary Art. The Chihuly Bridge of Glass, commissioned by the Museum, was gifted to the city of Tacoma in 2002. The span is a 500-foot-long pedestrian bridge linking downtown to the city's waterfront. Conceived by Dale Chihuly, and designed in collaboration with Arthur Andersson of Andersson·Wise Architects, it is a display of color and form soaring seventy feet into the air.

The Chihuly Bridge crosses Interstate 705, linking the Washington State History Museum with the Museum of Glass. The design phase of the bridge began in 1994. Chihuly and Andersson initially proposed that the bridge feature five small structures, inspired by glasshouses, each containing an installation of Chihuly's glass. As the project developed, Chihuly became more interested in large-scale sculptural installations. The collaboration between artist and architect evolved, as did their thinking of the size and character of the bridge installations. According to architect Andersson: "Dale and I studied the great bridges of the world. We discovered they all had one thing in common: they all spanned a river, gorge, or some other natural obstacle. Our context is different: our river is a river of cars and trains; our gorge is a gorge of concrete and metal."