Portal Seats of Memory

Marco Rando

2017  |  Cast concrete

Portal Seats of Memory was supported by a public art proffer fulfilled by Sekas Homes in developing their residential property along Sunrise Valley Drive. The work comprises a series of five cast-concrete sculptural stools by Reston artist Marco Rando that he aligned corner to corner. Rando commemorates the design of the API (American Press Institute) building by world-renowned architect and designer Marcel Breuer that was originally located on the site. The form of the stools is derived from Breuer’s repeated use of trapezoids in many of the window (portal) designs of his buildings including the windows of his iconic Whitney Museum in New York (now the Met Breuer). Breuer is known for a Brutalist style of architecture that embraced a natural concrete finish accentuated by its essential form. Rando emulates Breuer and the same method and process the architect used to achieve his forms, but on a more intimate, “ergonomic scale”. All but one stool are imprinted with the API Building footprint and the other stool contains a quote by Breuer on one side and the address of the API Building on the other. 

The artist envisioned the five seats as representative of the five physical senses, and the act of sitting ultimately engages the use of memory.

Owner: Sekas Homes