Decoding the Tree of Life

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

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Decoding the Tree of Life is a 2021 sculpture by Maya Lin hanging in the atrium of the Pavilion at Penn Medicine, on the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania campus in West Philadelphia. Twenty-two welded cast stainless steel branches carry more than 15,500 hand-blown glass bulbs, and the piece measures 38 ft 8 in by 18 ft 3 in by 18 ft 3 in. It is inside a working hospital.

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Decoding the Tree of Life

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Site-level location · 39.9485° N, 75.1916° W

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The story

Maya Lin's glass-and-steel tree rises through the ceiling of the atrium in the Pavilion at Penn Medicine, a 17-story building with 504 patient rooms, WHYY reported in 2021.

Maya Lin's studio lists Decoding the Tree of Life as a permanent, site-specific installation from 2021, commissioned by the University of Pennsylvania Health System, in blown glass, cast stainless steel and terrazzo. It was made at UAP's Rock Tavern foundry, with Lin overseeing the process, where 22 cast stainless steel branches were welded together to form the core structure and more than 15,500 handblown glass bulbs were affixed to the trunk and branches. The studio describes a two-story sculpture measuring 38 feet 8 inches by 18 feet 3 inches by 18 feet 3 inches, suspended from the Pavilion's ceilings and weaving between the ground floor and connector levels.

The studio says its form draws on a river, a tree and DNA; Penn Today reported in January 2021 that the design draws on the shape of DNA, the branches of a tree and the Schuylkill River. The studio describes Lin wanting something uplifting, with a sense of wonder, beauty and transcendence. She told WHYY she hoped a small child would be struck by a sense of beauty or wonder.

A Winter 2026 Penn giving magazine feature on art at the Clifton Center for Medical Breakthroughs, on the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania campus, describes the sculpture as hanging in the main atrium. The sculpture is inside a working hospital.

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