ray king adorns U.S veterans hospital car park with morse quotes

ray king adorns U.S veterans hospital car park with morse quotes
all images courtesy of ray king

‘horizon’ is a public art project by artist ray king located at the veterans affairs hospital parking facility in palo alto, california. made of hundreds of laminated holographic glass circles and rectangles, the work welcomes visitors — wounded or returning troops — with morse-coded messages of healing. 

holographic dots and dashes spell out words in code

king’s codes are the dot and dash translations of two quotes from american historical figures abraham lincoln and eleanor roosevelt. located on the souther façade is lincoln’s words from his second inaugural address in 1865, ‘with malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as god gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.’

the glass elements are cantilevered out from the metallic screen façade

the western façade bears roosevelt’s words from ‘you learn by living: eleven keys for a more fulfilling life’ published in 1960: ‘you gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. you must do the thing which you think you cannot do.’  

the installation extends nearly 70 meters on the southern face  

distant view of the parking structure 

western façade 

pedestrian bridge entrance 

looking up at the brightly colored elements 

detail 

interior view

abraham lincoln quote translation 

eleanor roosevelt quote tranlation

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions  feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: nick brink | designboom