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City of Crystals View of the building outside of entrance view from the 5th street in the morning Closer view of the suspended sculpture from outside the window in the morning view of the suspended sculpture from inside the lobby in morning light Detail view of the glass suspended sculpture in the morning View of the suspended sculpture from the interior, mid day Detail view of the suspended sculpture from interior atrium, mid day Night time view of the suspended sculpture from the street outside Night time view of the suspended sculpture from the street outside Night time view of the suspended sculpture from across the street

City of Crystals

City of Crystals, 2025
600 Fifth Street NW, Washington, DC
Cast glass and stainless steel
H 13′ × W 14′ × D 6′

City of Crystals is a permanent installation suspended in the east-side lobby of a 22-foot-high atrium, illuminated each morning by sunlight streaming in from the east. Composed of 470 hand-crafted cast-glass crystals, the work transforms the space into a shifting field of light, shadow, and color.

The sculpture’s structure is derived from the map of Washington, DC—its diamond outline and underlying street layout. Within each glass unit, the diamond form is echoed: two opposing pyramids of clear cast glass fused while hot, inspired by natural salt crystals. A thin veil of color embedded between them activates each piece from within.

Eighty-one suspension points trace the DC street plan surrounding the Capitol, creating a luminous spatial map derived from the city’s historic diamond grid.

Viewed from across the street at night, the full composition reveals the city’s iconic diamond boundary. Indigo-blue glass follows the curve of the Potomac River, emerald green marks the District’s parks and tree canopy, and clear glass defines the remaining urban terrain.

Through these nested interpretations of the diamond—at the scale of both city and crystal—City of Crystals reflects Washington, DC as a landscape of light and urban transformation.