/mimicking the topography with light
//story
Garibaldi Mountain is one of the greatest natural beauties in British Columbia, towering majestically above the small town of Squamish. Every time you drive by or see it in the distance, the extraordinary view of the impressively peaked ridge inherently steals your breath away.
When Bosa Properties was developing their sales centre for a new community in Squamish, they wanted something awe-inspiring for their massive, floor-to-ceiling glass-windowed space. We decided to create Summit, a sculptural lighting piece that would let people see Garibaldi in a whole new perspective and would also be visible for anyone passing by on the nearby Highway 99.
The final lighting fixture, which includes more than 45,000 controllable LEDs, is a faceted framework interpretation of Garibaldi’s geometric form — only upside down. The lights on Summit animate in several different patterns, including a blinking firefly setting, a twinkling sparkle mode and more. The piece is impressive during daylight, but it really comes to life after dark as it shines through the transparent walls of the sales centre.
To engineer the structure, we started with the form-finding techniques inspired by Spanish architect Gaudi, constructing a hanging model in pure tension to inform the final 'mountain' configuration. From there, we designed custom aluminum extrusions to hold the LEDs and make up the frame of the sculpture. Held together by custom steel connectors, designed using 3D printed moulds, the extrusions also house all the wiring for the micro controllers.
The view of Summit is nothing short of magical, whether you are right underneath it or viewing it from afar.
//how it works
Summit is a structure made out to 76 aluminum extrusions connected by 45 custom-made connectors. The structure hangs directly from 24 roof connectors and 8 cable points. We used 32 joints to connect the extrusions.
The installation lights up thanks to the more than 45k controllable LEDs that populate the three sides of the extrusions. A piece of 3D software was designed to control the sculpture in real time. Summit can be dimmed and also set to different animation modes from a custom application running on a tablet.
/artworks
/all
/architecture
/branded
/light
/museums
/music bands
/performance
/public art
/sound
canopy
super puff
noise
parasol
colouring app
helix
samsung graffiti
OH!
jax
summit
bubbles
field
halo
hako
fireflies
winged
marshmallow…
shine with pride
alveoli
array
mini halo swarm
zygote stageset
anima
experience…
illuminate…
pulse
sound clouds
jelly swarm
cocoons
mist
seed of truce
picidae chorus
mikado
boxcam
imsound
line segments
imaginary friends
stalagmites
visitor
pixmob zygotes
voice it table
LED bottle wall
megaclouds
starburst
mo-cap graffiti…