Pulp Studio collaborated with artist Phillip K. Smith III to create a piece of art for Sound Transit’s new Wilburton Station in Downtown Bellevue, Washington. This is the second project Pulp Studio has completed for Sound Transit’s STart program, which showcases artwork by both local and nationally acclaimed artists in stations and transit centers to elevate the overall aesthetic of these public spaces.
“Pulp Studio was elated to work with Sound Transit’s STart program once again on a new piece of art for one of their latest stations,” says Kirk Johnson, CEO of Pulp Studio. “This project is just one of many upcoming ventures Pulp is undertaking with transportation and metro centers. Glass, with its exceptional versatility, is a fantastic medium for art in public spaces like train stations, offering the ability to interact with light to produce dynamic visual effects like those featured in this project.”
Pulp Studio's involvement in the project
Pulp Studio supplied ¼-inch annealed glass over ¼-inch low-iron tempered glass with a custom D2G border on surface #3. D2G is Pulp Studio's proprietary digital printing process that allows for high-quality, custom designs to be applied directly onto glass surfaces. All the glass featured in this project is laminated with a translucent SentryGlas interlayer. This interlayer enhances the opacity of the glass, helping to control light and visibility, while further enhancing the visual experience of the artwork.
The featured artwork at Wilburton Station, titled “Four Corners Extruded,” is a sculpture that utilizes light and reflection. The piece features two planes turning at 90 degrees from each other to form a plus sign, with four reflective corners aligned to the cardinal directions. During the day, the sculpture mirrors the sky and treetops, while at dusk, it blends colors with its reflections, offering tinted views of the surrounding environment. By night, the colors appear to float, transforming the canvas into fields of shifting shades.
“I was inspired by the spectrum of colors represented by the lit sky as well as the pace of viewing a sunset,” says Smith. “The artwork’s focused experience contrasts against the adjacent speed of the highway, transit line, and pedestrians.”
About Wilburton Station
Opened in April 2024, the Wilburton Station is one of ten new stations on Sound Transit’s East Link Extension, also known as the 2 Line. Spanning 14 miles long, the 2 Line extends light rail service from Seattle to the Eastside suburbs, enhancing travel across this region and providing a fast alternative to driving or taking buses. Pulp Studio recently partnered with Sound Transit’s STart program to create a glass mural for Star Lake Station, a new addition to the Federal Way Link Extension set to open in 2026.