Art in Dialogue: How Public Sculpture Builds Community at Flats 8300

Breathe, an 8.5-foot stainless-steel suspension sculpture at Flats 8300. Inspired by air bubbles rising underwater, its floating forms create a meditative counterpoint to the surrounding architecture.

Creating a single sculpture that resonates with a community is powerful. Designing three distinct works for one location, however, presents a rare opportunity: the chance to build a layered conversation between art, space, and people.

At Flats 8300 in Bethesda, Maryland, three of my sculptures, Reach Out, Breathe, and Ray of Light, come together to form a unique artistic landscape. Each stands on its own, yet together they create a harmonious narrative that elevates this residential and commercial development into a cultural landmark. The semi-enclosed plaza, framed by apartment buildings and retail, recalls the intimate courtyard of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Flowing through the space is a stream, setting the stage for sculpture to engage directly with movement, reflection, and the rhythms of urban life.

Reach Out: Kinetic Energy in Urban Design

Ray of Light, a stainless-steel water sculpture at Flats 8300. Flowing water catches sunlight, creating shimmering reflections that echo the stream running through the plaza.

Positioned at the far end of the plaza, Reach Out is a wind kinetic sculpture that responds to natural currents of air moving through the site. Constructed of polished stainless steel, its circular forms pivot gracefully, shifting in response to even the subtlest breeze.

The sculpture’s kinetic design embodies openness and connection, an invitation for viewers to look up and engage with forces often unnoticed. In a fast-paced urban context, Reach Out transforms a transitory plaza into a destination, encouraging passersby to pause, observe, and reflect. This is the power of kinetic sculpture in public spaces: it makes invisible forces visible, connecting people to the natural energy surrounding them.

Breathe: A Suspended Meditation

Close-up of Breathe at Flats 8300 in Bethesda. From this vantage point, the stainless-steel forms stretch upward, catching light as they rise toward the sky. The detail highlights the sculpture’s suspended balance and fluidity, making its circular forms feel as if they are floating weightlessly above, echoing air bubbles drifting through water.

Hovering mid-plaza, Breathe is a vertical sculpture in suspension inspired by the release of bubbles beneath the ocean’s surface. Crafted from stainless steel and rising 8.5 feet high, the work captures the quiet miracle of life-sustaining breath.

Suspended in air, its floating circular forms feel weightless, offering a visual and emotional contrast against the rigidity of surrounding architecture. The sculpture evokes stillness, asking viewers to pause and contemplate the unseen systems, air, balance, breath, that sustain existence. In an urban setting defined by structure and motion, Breathe provides a moment of meditation and reflection.

Suspension sculpture carries a special kind of power: it requires precise engineering to achieve balance and stability, yet when successful, it feels effortless, forms floating in defiance of gravity. Breathe achieves this duality, offering both technical precision and poetic resonance.

Ray of Light: The Fluidity of Water

Close-up of Ray of Light. At night, the polished stainless steel takes on a luminous quality as light glides across its surface. The interplay of water, reflection, and illumination transforms the sculpture into a living beacon—shimmering, fluid, and radiant even in darkness.

Completing the trio, Ray of Light is a water sculpture designed to mirror the stream that winds through the plaza. Water flows across its polished stainless-steel surfaces, catching light and scattering it back as shimmering patterns.

This integration of water into sculpture transforms the work into a multisensory experience, sight, sound, and touch converging. The sculpture’s reflective surfaces echo light upward, animating the plaza with shifting waves and rhythms that change with the time of day and season.

Ray of Light at Flats 8300 in Bethesda comes alive through water. As streams glide across polished stainless steel, light refracts and dances across the surface, turning the sculpture into a shimmering play of movement and reflection. In motion, it embodies the fluidity of water and the radiance of light, transforming the plaza into a space of serenity and wonder.

Historically, fountains and water features have been central to urban design, from Roman piazzas to Renaissance courtyards, serving both practical and symbolic purposes. Ray of Light continues this lineage, providing a contemplative focal point that brings serenity into a bustling urban environment.

A Holistic Narrative

Together, Reach Out, Breathe, and Ray of Light create my first permanent installation where kinetic, suspended, and water sculptures coexist. Each offers a distinct mode of engagement, movement, meditation, and reflection, yet collectively they transform Flats 8300 into a sculptural environment greater than the sum of its parts.

This trio represents the philosophy at the core of my practice: art as service, art as connection, art as a catalyst for reimagining public space. Visitors may be drawn to the contemplative stillness of Breathe, the dynamic energy of Reach Out, or the flowing serenity of Ray of Light. Each sculpture provides a unique entry point, while together they build a shared experience that resonates across audiences.

A Model for Urban Developers

For developers and architects, the Flats 8300 installation illustrates how public art can redefine space. Commissioning a grouping of sculptures elevates urban environments beyond aesthetics, transforming them into destinations that encourage engagement, attract foot traffic, and establish identity.

Public art is more than ornament, it is a strategic investment in placemaking. By integrating monumental sculpture, kinetic art, suspension works, and water features, developers create vibrant, memorable environments that stand apart in competitive urban markets. Flats 8300 demonstrates how sculpture can simultaneously serve community, elevate design, and anchor a development as a landmark.

Sculptural Harmony at Flats 8300 exemplifies the transformative role of public art in urban settings. The integration of kinetic, suspended, and water sculptures demonstrates how art can animate architectural spaces, inspire reflection, and create enduring cultural value.

For communities, these works foster connection and delight. For developers, they offer powerful tools for placemaking and identity-building. And for me as an artist, the opportunity to bring together three distinct sculptural languages in dialogue with one another, with nature, and with the public is profoundly rewarding.