Harries/Heder Public Art

SunFlowers, An Electric Garden Permanent Installation

Night view of the SunFlowers

Location:	Austin, TX
Client:	Catellus Development Co.
Size:	30' x 1000' x 16'
Materials:	Photovoltaic solar collector panels, welded steel frames and stems, landforms and plantings
Budget:	$595,000:
	$470,000 from the Developer
	$75,000 from Austin Energy rebate
	$50,000 grant from Applied Materials Inc.

The 15 SunFlowers that form the Electric Garden are sculptural solar collectors that generate solar energy for lighting at night. The additional 15 kilowatts of energy that they produce is fed into the electrical grid for credit, which will fund the maintenance and operating costs for the project. During the day they provide shade for a pedestrian/bicycle path and at night the LED’s in the SunFlowers’ stamens glow with blue light.

SunFlowers was initiated as a buffer to mask the loading docks at the edge of the Mueller Development from the I-35 highway.

Night view of SunFlowers lining the new pedestrian path

To date, this is the largest public art project in the City of Austin. SunFlowers is both an icon for the sustainable, LEED certified Mueller Development and a highly visible metaphor for the energy conscious City of Austin.

Detail of photovoltaic
solar collector panels

Austin residents anticipating
the lighting of the SunFlowers

The custom-made solar collector panels have a blue crystalline surface and appear like a garden of huge flowers facing the northbound traffic on I-35.

On the bike path the special transparent blue gel sandwiched into the panels create shade and dappled blue light.

Birds Eye View

Proposal illustration showing the aerial view of the installation next to the I-35 Highway

Photos by David Newsom

Photos by

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