MTA Arts & Design

North White Plains Parking Garage

SITU Studio

Percolate, 2015

Stainless steel

Featuring various forms of vaporizing droplets to reference the role water has played in the history of White Plains, Percolate is a site-specific artwork integrated with the architecture of the parking garage at MNR’s North White Plains Station.

Commissioned by Arts & Design, the artwork is created by SITU Studio, a team of artists and designers known for its architectural design and research practice. The artwork references the visual theme of water to bring attention to the role water has played in the history of White Plains, going back to the “heavy mist” that gave the town its name. For the artist team, the nearby Bronx River, the Kensico reservoir, the city of White Plains, and the new parking structure all act as different types of vessels, holding and channeling forms of flows toward New York City. Just as the town and the parking structure funnel thousands of passengers through the commuter rail in the MTA system, so too does the reservoir channel hundreds of millions of gallons of water to NYC every day.

Fabricated by SITU and Kammetal, these droplets were laser cut into perforated sculptural screens in cellular-like forms. Approx. 125 stainless steel screens in ever-changing formation of water bubbles clad the metal mesh on the façade of the building, creating a visual perception of upward motion from which these bubbles appear to be gradually vaporized into the air from the upper level of the building. The sculpture entails a very different visual effect whether the viewer is up close observing the fine grains of the finished metal screens, or captivated by the bubbling and shimmering effect from a distance, at a moment when the sun interacts with the surface of these sculptural screens.