prismatic_NYC light installation adapts to surroundings to generate calming waveforms

prismatic light installation adapts to surroundings to generate calming waveforms
all images courtesy of  hyphen labs

‘prismatic_NYC’ is a luminous-kinetic sculpture that is 70 feet long and 10 fee wide,  suspended on the ceiling of a walkway that stretches over the high line park, in lower manhattan. it is made of 66 counter-rotated triangular prisms; each are comprised of an aluminum-side, a flat-black side, and a luminescent-side. the prisms rotate freely and change color independently. when combined, using ‘prismatic_NYC’s’ counter-rotated design, it creates a glowing waveform that gracefully, and silently dances overhead. 

interior architects approached the project with an initial idea – to build an installation that would be similar to a classic trivision billboard, which consist of triangular prisms simultaneously rotating 120 degrees to display a new message at each rotation. the collaborated team tweak the idea by tapering each prism and alternating their orientation. this strategy would give them control of the visual apex that was met between each pair. each prism has a base diameter of 12 inches at the edges and tapers to six inches toward the center across a ten foot span.

the ‘prismatic_NYC’ is located above the ‘high line’ in NYC

tennesse based company RMI, developed and fabricated a working mechanical system and dan moore programmed ‘prismatic’ to start rolling when specific positions associated with a moving waveform are sent to each motor. the result is the animated wave of light concurrently achieving later translations of the 2D curve which flows volumetrically through the space. 

the installation during the day

a long pedestrian bridge located high across a new york city street connects the tech company’s headquarters to their new office building above the chelsea market. the ‘prismatic’ sculpture cycles through space from its installation on the ceiling of the bridge. the sculpture is data-driven, it collects information on real-time weather, moon-phases, the hudson tide, and more; and the data directly affects the amplitude, speed, position, and color of each prism. the piece is privately owned, but can be seen publicly, on the high line, from little W 12th street, up to 20th street. 

the connected bridge at night the installation is made of 66 individual prisms the whole system uses over 40,000 integrated LEDseach rotates 120 degrees each prism is connected to a motor for rotation  the system being programmed

INSTALLATION CREDITS:

directed by: Bill Galusha  
concept design: IA Interior Architects 
technical director: Dan Moore  
creative technologists & experience design: Hyphen-Labs 
fabrication: RMI
lighting design consultant: Lightswitch