The Lighting Control Innovation Award was created in 2011 as part of the Illuminating Engineering Society’s Illumination Awards program, which recognizes professionalism, ingenuity and originality in lighting design. LCA is proud to sponsor the Lighting Control Innovation Award, which recognizes projects that exemplify the effective use of lighting controls in nonresidential applications.
This month, we will explore the role of lighting controls in creating a “living light” public art installation. Design by Dan Corson, Corson Art and Lisa
Passamonte Green, Mike Mahlum and Jennifer Goldstein of Visual Terrain, Inc. Photography by Dan Corson and John Jenkinson. Lighting controls by Beaudry Interactive (interactive control system) and Electronic Theater Controls (ETC) (lighting controls).
This five-acre Great Lawn is home to an ever-changing light environment: a single artist’s vision realized by lighting designers, integrators/programmers, and an interactive designer, to create a unique experience that celebrates light and control. The team worked closely with landscape architects, the community, local arts council, fixture manufacturers, and the city. Utilizing only (16) 1200W static image projectors and (4) 1500W automated fixtures, the lawn is activated every half hour after dark.
The programming includes choreographed sequences and interactive games that sense the movement of people in the park. Unique interactive software created for this installation allows tracking by an infrared camera and motion detectors, so that locations and gestures of people on certain areas of the lawn control the lighting throughout the park. The information from the camera and motion detectors, feeds proprietary interactive software, that triggers presets for programmed events and sequences, within lighting controllers. At certain moments, lights may intuitively follow and interact with guests as they move across the lawn. A time clock control also adjusts the schedule by season.
Children of all ages experience “living light” that reacts to them and provokes play action. The system can track as many as 50 people at once for the interactive games.
Seasonal changes and the likelihood of multiple guest visits necessitated a wide variety of lighting programming and experiences, celebrating the vastly different color palettes of snow-covered
landscape, barren spring conditions, and the lush, green lawns of summer. Returning guests get a uniquely different experience every night.
The project delivers an experience in a large public space with minimal hardware and software, allowing this public art installation to stay within a limited budget.
Additional content and programming can be added to the program at the client’s request.
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What location is this?
Hi Kath, thanks for commenting. The park is located at 209 Pearl St., Council Bluffs, IA.
Amazing use of light and technology! Not your average walk in the park.