Haddad Drugan LLC

Haddad|Drugan is a Seattle-based design studio specializing in site-specific public art. The practice is led by an artist team whose work is described as an experimental inquiry into methods of manipulating environmental phenomena in the built environment. Fusing the temporal with the spatial and the conceptual with the functional, the studio engages with its context to form a continuously transforming medium of exchange between systems, ideas, and interventions, with the goal of inventing provocative experiences that are dynamic at different scales, speeds, vantages, and light conditions. The studio specializes in conceptually driven public art that is often integrated into large-scale infrastructure projects. Its past and current work includes art for roadways, bridges, transit stations, public utilities, architectural facades, industrial artifacts, museums, libraries, and urban plazas and parks. Working in the public realm, the artists pursue an interest in using site conditions as inspiration for art concepts, creating what they describe as an aesthetic resonance of place in the memories, imaginations, and perceptions of viewers. Haddad|Drugan strives to create poetic one-of-a-kind artworks that on one level act as place-making icons but on another are layered with subtler complexities that unfold over multiple viewings. The studio's site-specific approach to new projects includes research and investigations about a site's physical, functional, natural, social, and historical aspects. From this the artists establish a conceptual framework for the art and develop specific forms and materials that best express the idea. Haddad|Drugan operates at the scale of both sculpture and planning and approaches the thematic or sequential linking of individual artworks as a form of conceptual art unto itself. A representative recent project is River Soundings, a 60-foot-tall sculpture in the public space of Philadelphia's Rivermark Northern Liberties development on the Delaware River Waterfront, completed in 2025. The artwork is composed of a spiraling steel frame strung with embellished stainless steel cables and is an actual-scale representation of the depth of the river adjacent to the site. Nighttime lighting bathes the piece in dynamic colors inspired by the river, seasonal change, and events specific to Philadelphia. The sculpture is informed by an ancient navigational instrument called a lead line, used to measure the depth of waterways. In the sculpture, each cable represents an individual lead line illustrating a sounding of the river's depth, with reflective weights positioned to demarcate the depth of the riverbed as measured from the top of the sculpture. Blue discs spaced one foot apart flutter in the wind and scintillate in sunlight, expressing phenomena of water. At the base, etched metal pile pipes provide more context about the depth and navigation of the river, with additional references to Philadelphia's notion of Brotherly Love. Many collaborators worked with Haddad Drugan to realize this artwork, including Yetiweurks for structural engineering and Ignition Arts for cable fabrication.

Haddad|Drugan is a Seattle-based design studio for site-specific public art. The practice is organized around an artist team whose stated approach is an experimental inquiry into methods of manipulating environmental phenomena in the built environment. Rather than producing studio objects for neutral display, the studio works in the public realm and treats site conditions as the primary inspiration for art concepts. Its projects are frequently integrated into large-scale infrastructure, including roadways, bridges, transit stations, public utilities, architectural facades, industrial artifacts, museums, libraries, and urban plazas and parks. The studio's method for new projects begins with research and investigations into a site's physical, functional, natural, social, and historical aspects. From that research the artists establish a conceptual framework and then develop specific forms and materials that best express the idea. This process is intended to create what the studio calls an aesthetic resonance of place in the memories, imaginations, and perceptions of viewers. Haddad|Drugan describes its artworks as poetic and one-of-a-kind: on one level they act as place-making icons, while on another they are layered with subtler complexities that unfold over multiple viewings. The studio operates at the scale of both sculpture and planning, and it approaches the thematic or sequential linking of individual artworks as a form of conceptual art unto itself. A major recent work is River Soundings, completed in 2025 for the public space of the Rivermark Northern Liberties development on the Delaware River Waterfront in Philadelphia. The 60-foot-tall sculpture is composed of a spiraling steel frame strung with embellished stainless steel cables and is an actual-scale representation of the depth of the river adjacent to the site. Its concept is informed by the lead line, an ancient navigational instrument used to measure the depth of waterways: a rope marked in increments of fathoms with a tapered lead sounding weight attached to its end, cast into the water and lowered until the weight reaches the riverbed, with the length of the immersed portion of rope indicating the depth. In the sculpture, each cable represents an individual lead line illustrating a sounding of the river's depth, and reflective weights are positioned to demarcate the depth of the riverbed as measured from the top of the sculpture. Blue discs spaced one foot apart flutter in the wind and scintillate in sunlight, expressing phenomena of water. At the base of the sculpture, etched metal pile pipes provide more context about the depth and navigation of the river, with additional references to Philadelphia's notion of Brotherly Love. Nighttime lighting bathes the piece in dynamic colors inspired by the river, seasonal change, and events specific to Philadelphia. The studio credits many collaborators in realizing the artwork, including Yetiweurks for structural engineering and Ignition Arts for cable fabrication. Beyond River Soundings, the studio's portfolio spans the categories it lists for its public work: roadways, bridges, transit stations, public utilities, architectural facades, industrial artifacts, museums, libraries, and urban plazas and parks. The studio continues to pursue public commissions that fuse the temporal with the spatial and the conceptual with the functional, aiming to create a continuously transforming medium of exchange between systems, ideas, and interventions.

• 2025

  Completed River Soundings, a 60-foot-tall public sculpture at Rivermark Northern Liberties on the Delaware River Waterfront in Philadelphia.

Conceptually driven, site-specific public art studio operating at the scale of both sculpture and planning, often integrated into large-scale infrastructure projects.

• River Soundings

  A 60-foot-tall sculpture in the public space of Philadelphia's Rivermark Northern Liberties development, composed of a spiraling steel frame strung with embellished stainless steel cables and representing the depth of the adjacent Delaware River at actual scale.

1. 1HADDAD|DRUGANhaddad-drugan.com
2. 2Statement — HADDAD|DRUGANhaddad-drugan.com
3. 3Haddad Drugan LLC — Wikidatawikidata.org