Leading Lights, created by Catherine Widgery, transforms the K Street underpass in Washington, D.C.’s Golden Triangle District into a changing corridor of color and light. Thirty-four freestanding dichroic-glass and stainless-steel columns line both sides of the street, creating a rhythmic gateway for vehicles and pedestrians moving through the site.

The dichroic glass shifts in color as the viewer moves and as daylight changes. In direct sunlight, the columns project bands of saturated color across the pavement and surrounding surfaces, extending the artwork beyond its physical footprint. From other angles, the glass becomes nearly transparent before reappearing as the light or point of view changes.

Each triangular column is set at a slightly different rotation, allowing its reflective surfaces to respond individually to the sun and surrounding architecture. After dark, solar-powered lights within the caps illuminate the columns from above, turning them into softly colored lanterns.

Elmendorf/Geurts engineered, fabricated, and installed the sculptural system, integrating the stainless-steel structures, dichroic glass, and solar lighting into a durable public artwork. The repeated vertical forms reference the tree-lined boulevards and architectural columns found throughout Washington, D.C., while giving the previously undefined underpass a stronger sense of place.