Baylor College of Medicine Wall of Honor

This installation is half-inch thick, highly polished, etched and carved domestic crystal. The designer was inspired by the aesthetically intriguing horizontal graph and chart presentations that the Genome Project researchers have developed to map the human genome.

The design starts and ends in an exquisite image of a human being. Photographer Lois Greenfield’s image of a dancer was chosen to express the beauty of the human form. A band of custom-designed mosaic art by Eric Zammitt spans the wall as a sculptural and structural element with thousands of laminated and machined bits of colored acrylic forming a dynamic flare of movement, color, and light.

Dramatic lighting is crucial here, causing the art and graphics to glow and read three-dimensionally. The luminosity is symbolic of research, learning, the sacred, and the beginnings of life itself. The crystal becomes a continuous fiber optic as light-emitting diodes hidden in the mounting brackets edge light the carving.

The design, with its overlap of names, chronological historical facts, values statements, compositional movement, and imagery shows how one or more discoveries or meetings may trigger a chain reaction that may lead to a key understanding and eventually a cure to disease.

Design Team

Christina Wallach (Principal in Charge), Supreeya Pongkasem, Arlene Rhoden, Tenaya Wallach

Design Firm

Christina Wallach

Consultants

Eric Zammitt, Margot Silk Forrest

Fabricators

Wallach Glass Studio