“Somewhere Under the Rainbow” is a permanent public art installation created by Synthesis Design and Architecture for the city of Redmond, Washington. This transformative piece reimagines the SR520/40th St. bicycle trail tunnel, which serves as an infrastructural underpass between opposing sides of Microsoft’s Redmond campus, linking downtown Redmond to key destinations such as the State Route 520 expressway and downtown Seattle. Now, it functions as a portal, momentarily transporting visitors to another dimension that celebrates the LGBTQIA+ community of Washington and pays homage to the legacy of Microsoft.

Inspired by the notable Trompe-l’œil optical illusion technique and Italian architect Filippo Brunelleschi’s revolutionary “linear perspective,” the team at Synthesis Design & Architecture aimed to create a conceptual contrast between illusion and reality to highlight the “other-worldly” qualities of the tunnel. 

A one-point perspective begins at the north entrance of the tunnel and is projected onto the walls and ceilings of the underpass using grids of two-dimensional mosaic tiles that illustrate the expansiveness of the field. The dark, long, and narrow underpass transforms into a gateway to another world, simultaneously expanding in width and shortening in length. However, upon entering the tunnel, the illusion is exposed. The high-resolution imagery from a single perspective turns into a low-resolution composition of tiled pixels, paying homage to Microsoft Paint (formerly Paintbrush), a simple raster graphics editor included with all versions of Microsoft Windows. A parade of palm trees swiftly transports visitors away from the typical Northwest rainforests and weather, while the chromatic spectrum of the sky transforms the iconic Pride rainbow from a representational object into an immersive experience.

To achieve the pixelated aesthetic and meet the surfacing requirements of the project, Synthesis Design & Architecture turned to Boston, MA-based mosaic design and manufacturing company Artaic for the mosaic’s design and fabrication. Artaic’s proprietary mosaic-building robots and Tylist™ software allowed the firm’s digital artwork to be transformed into a mosaic medium. The final mosaic covers nearly 6,000 square feet and includes over 800,000 individual Vitreous Glass tiles. Working with Artaic to transform the art into mosaic allows for durability and longevity—a key determining factor in deciding the final medium for the tunnel. With Vitreous Glass, the resulting artwork is a highly cleanable, vibrant mosaic installation that will resist damage and maintain its color for years to come.

When the City of Redmond put out a request for qualifications for the public art of the SR 520 Trail Grade Separation at NE 40th Street, the Synthesis Design & Architecture team knew they had to present the unexpected. Through the firm’s artistic collaboration with Artaic, the commuter passage went from a municipal tunnel to a vivid portal that immerses Redmond commuters in elements of their city's culture, transporting them beyond a mere intersection to a broader world.