The scenario is invitingly clear; the environment encourages a sense of residence. The sculptural constructs opportune a sense of wonder.

In the Hotel fifth floor Entry Lobby, a sixty-foot gold leafed barrel vault spans the entire volume. Both vault ends are illuminated by glass sculpture measuring twelve feet wide by six feet high by one foot deep. Systems of naturally occurring geometric harmony and holistic interreciprocality unite, realizing an abstraction of nature. Anticipated are the viewing and interactive experiential aspects: strikingly familiar, calm, meditative, mystifying.

Essentially abstraction qua abstraction, the sculpture grows from the conceptual roots of organic growth, physical patternation, and things recollectable. Enabled by antiquity and technology, the sculptural constructs are not product of particular style, yet rather a manifest inquiry into the fundamental elements of that which is intimately familiar.

Vision drove immersive research; research charged vision. Modeling substantiated developed theories. Reality and virtuality intertwined. The multi-layered "Light Machine" sculpture for the Four Seasons Hotel was designed with the new millennium in mind. The work is entitled "A Sense of Residence." Contemporary sculptural reading combines with formal symmetry. Glass panel spatial distribution was calculated by a specially developed algorithm that interrelates hierarchal aurea sectio proportions. These symmetries access naturally occurring geometric harmonies typically perceived in phenomena ranging from cosmos to organic life to molecular arrangement.

The radiating glass sections of tempered half-inch Starphire have highly attended edges. The edges carry a double-double bevel; that is, there are two bevels on each side of the glass. The footprint of these panels is staggered from left to right and from right to left as they progress, interlaced, towards the back, with the exception of the two large front panels, which are located on the same plane. This arrangement causes a perceivable depth in pyramidal configuration to occur from the center bottom, outward and upward. Psychologically the upward sweep of this design and the graphics these panels carry is lifting to the spirit.

Starphire is a clear white crystal-like glass without the green pigmentation found in traditional float glass. The entire sculpture is made from this pure colorless and thick crystal glass. The blacked out backing wall is the perfect foil for the etching, which stands out in three-dimensional relief, each line glowing with light from the Glass Illuminations, Inc., fiber optic lighting system.

Internal articulation manifests through an RWAAG proprietary system, Engraving Optically Reciprocal Representation (EORR). Grounded in holography, physics, and the way humans perceive light, EORR virtually synthesize form through reconstructing the mechanics of that which defines spatial volume. EORR avails an exacting system akin to painting with a palette of light itself.

Although the glass is crystal-white in color with an extremely low iron content, and the metal-halide fibre optic system delivers white light, color washes appear when the sculpture is studied. Visible color is a result of ambient surface direct reflections and internal refractions, especially the adjacent gold leafed vault. This optical effect marries the sculpture to environment in depths beyond the capabilities of traditional induced-color lighting systems.

The work is meditative in nature. Specific optical phenomena employed are subtle and ever changing. A prominent property of the abstract organic imagery is that one can visualize other things in the work by soft focus of the eyes, much like looking at clouds or patterns in tree leaves. The more mathematically inclined viewer will be challenged in attempts to deconstruct employed methodologies of the achieved gestalt. The twin sisters at each vault end sense every ambient change, and respond in harmonic accord.

At each point that the beveled glass edges intersect, a virtual prism is formed, showering fiery light into subtle color spectrums. These spectrums race along the highly polished edges. Reflective qualities of the planes of glass carry subtle slices of the blastcarved image forward in transparent and varied fragments.

The lighting system is a first of its kind, developed specifically for the sculpture by Glass Illuminations, Inc. The fiber optic bundles are aimed by hardware sleeves to follow the angles of each specific panel of glass. This allows for the light to travel the full length of each panel rather than being lost at the incident angle exceeding the base width. The lighting system is glazed to the glass in individual housings. The illuminators are located in the wall behind the sculptures where access is available to easily change the bulbs. If the lights are rested two hours a day the bulb life is approximately six thousand hours, or three thousand hours if the lights remain constantly lit.

The sculptural work is designed as a Light Machine; it has been designed to manipulate light. Ambient available light is sufficient for RWAAG sculptures. In the present case the work is against a wall high in the ceiling vault and will benefit from artificial lighting. The intended effect is subtle and elegant.

Translucent stop has been specified to minimize structural interruption of the lighting system. For the same reason all glass edges are polished out to "brilliant". The stop is fireproof acrylic with 23K Gold plated visible anchoring glass to architecture. This system serves the aesthetic intent of visually grounding each panel radiation.