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EARTHSEED DOME
Lily Kwong
Lily Kwong’s practice is deeply inspired by the landscapes of the Bay Area, where she grew up among the redwood forests of Northern California. Long before her work took form as large-scale installations, Kwong’s creative language was informed by the rhythms and materials of the natural world, an influence that continues to guide her approach as an ecological artist today.
This project marks Kwong’s first installation in the Bay Area and her most ambitious work to date. Installed in Transamerica’s Redwood Park, EARTHSEED DOME is conceived as a living, site-responsive structure. The work draws together ancestral earth-building practices and pioneering new technologies, exemplifying ICA SF’s capacity to support artists as they push their practice through partnerships and new modes of production.
With 3D Printing Technology and Fabrication developed in collaboration with Atelio and WASP, EARTHSEED DOME is constructed using new robotic arm technology to 3D-print seed-impregnated living soil. During San Francisco Art Week, visitors can watch fabrication begin through the windows of an adjacent unused retail space, as the dome slowly emerges brick by brick over the course of several weeks out in the central site in the park. This visible process foregrounds making, linking advanced fabrication to deeply human ways of working with earth.
Set within Transamerica Redwood Park, a jewel-box oasis in the heart of downtown San Francisco, the completed structure will continue to evolve over time. As spring and summer unfold, embedded seeds will bloom, transforming the sculpture into a seed dispersal hub that extends beyond the park itself. Visitors are invited to act as pollinators, carrying this living system outward and returning to the site as growth, seasonality, and collective stewardship reshape both the artwork and the city around it.
“As a Bay Area native, my creative consciousness and ecological attunement was completely shaped by this place. I often say I was raised by Redwoods, as these mighty trees felt as much like ancestors as any human being growing up as a small child in Mill Valley. By high school I was at school in the city, being radically inspired by the kinetic quirky, creative culture of SF in the early aughts. I’ve spent over 15 years building installations all over the world, always with the inspiration of the Redwoods in my heart and to be invited by such a revolutionary arts organization to build a site-responsive, ecologically meaningful piece in this iconic grove amongst the trees and community that have given me my creative life, purpose and mission in the world is an honor of a lifetime.” — Lily Kwong
EARTHSEED DOME represents one of the first large-scale realizations of 3D-printed soil integrated with living plant systems outside of a purely research context. While academic explorations, including collaborations between WASP and MIT, have previously demonstrated seed-embedded soil printing, these efforts have largely remained within research and experimental frameworks. A core focus of Atelio’s work is advancing a living soil system capable of supporting seed germination and sustained plant growth at scales and contexts relevant to built environments. The innovation lies in the sophisticated integration of two distinct material systems working in concert: EARTHSEED DOME uses a dual-material system in which a 3D-printed GeoMix outer shell provides structural integrity and durability, while an inner system of locally sourced, seeded soil mounds creates a breathable, living substrate that supports ecological growth and ties the structure directly to its environment.
Fabrication of EARTHSEED DOME is in partnership with Atelio and WASP.
EARTHSEED DOME is an invitation for people to become pollinators. Once complete, the dome will feature seed packets for visitors to take and scatter. Seed packets include over 15 sun-loving annual wildflower species native to the Bay Area which will delight the senses, feed pollinators, and reseed themselves every year.
Includes: Clarkia amoena, Clarkia unguiculata, Collinsia heterophylla, Eschscholzia californica, Gilia capitata, Gilia tricolor, Lasthenia glabrata, Layia platyglossa, Linanthus grandiflorus, Linum lewisii, Lupinus bicolor, Lupinus nanus, Lupinus succulentus, Nemophila maculata, Nemophila menziesii, Phacelia tanacetifolia
Instructions: Choose a sunny plot and scatter seeds over loosened, lightly moistened soil; press them gently into the surface. Please do not sow in wildlands.
Seeds provided by Altadena Seed Library, an organization dedicated to rewilding urban spaces through native seed distribution and education.
With gratitude to the young artists of Harmony Montessori preschool, whose original artwork blooms across the seed packets.
Lily Kwong is a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores plant life as both an artistic medium and a platform for community building and collective care. Informed by her background in urban studies, horticulture and sustainable design, Kwong’s practice seeks to reestablish a social awareness of the landscape as both a repository of ancestral knowledge and wellspring of future innovation — a complex language as much as a habitat for human civilization. Recent projects include Gardens of Renewal, Madison Square Park, New York, NY (2025); Solis, Night Gallery, Los Angles, CA (2024); Subterrestrial, Night Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2024); The Orchid Show: Natural Heritage, New York Botanical Garden, New York, NY (2023) and the Summer Solstice botanical art installation for St.Germain, The High Line, New York, NY (2017). Gardens of Renewal and Natural Heritage each broke attendance records at their respective institutions.
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Presenting support for EARTHSEED DOME is provided by Transamerica Pyramid Center, A SHVO Property. Major support is provided by LYRA Art Foundation, Pamela and David Hornik, Rachel and Eric Jones Foundation, and Svane Family Foundation’s Culture Forward Initiative. Community support is provided by Anonymous, Letitia Yang, and Tricia Turner Herrick. Additional support provided by Cadogan Tate; and The Jay, Autograph Collection. Programming curated in partnership with Art at a Time Like This.