Case study – Anolis lights up the Droplet

LED fixtures from Anolis are lighting artist Stuart Green’s gleaming ‘Droplet’ sculpture, a six-metre tall, three-metre wide stainless steel work which has been installed in Canberra, Australia. Anolis ArcPad 48 LED fixtures are internally lighting artist Stuart Green’s gleaming and breathtakingly beautiful ‘Droplet’ sculpture, a six-metre tall, three-metre wide stainless steel work which has been installed on the corner of Furzer and Worgon Streets in the Phillip Woden district of Canberra, Australia. Perth-based Green was commissioned to create Droplet by the ACT (Australian Capital Territory) Government. Its elegant curved and pleated shell – in the shape of a massive water droplet – is made from laser cut 316 marine grade stainless steel, and it has a quirky 10 degree tilt. The idea is that the object can be easily interpreted as a single from a distance ….with its details and pierced intricacies only available on closer viewing as people are drawn to it. Lighting was integral to the sculpture from the start. It is a medium also previously explored by the artist in other works.@page_break@The ArcPad 48s were specified by design practice Light Application and supplied by the Gold Coast HQ of Anolis’ Australian distributor The ULA Group, co-ordinated by ULA’s architectural lighting and vision consultant Jason Saunders. “I wanted to use high quality LED products with a good intensity that were simple to install … and hugely dynamic in effect,” said Green. Light Application’s MD David Sparrow explained that the choice of lighting product was “very simple” in that it required a flexible, high powered LED fixture that was compact, well-priced and maintenance-free. “So the Anolis ArcPad was the obvious choice,” he said. The ArcPad 48 fixtures are installed in the base of Droplet pointing upwards and outwards to the east and west. They are programmed to run a colour changing sequence that morphs from blue to pink to white over a five-minute period. The colour chase is slightly offset in each fixture, with the effect giving slightly varied hues of the same colour simultaneously as it traverses the programmed colour spectrum. This results in a fuller, richer and more rounded chromatic experience than if lit with a single colour tone.@page_break@There is also interplay with natural light during the day as Droplet is highly reflective and reflects the colour, light and subtleties of its immediate environment – making it a living, breathing phenomenon. At dawn and dusk there is a fabulous reciprocity between the Anolis lighting, the fading/brightening sky and the ambient street lighting and general glow emanating from the close urban landscape. The ArcPad 48s turn on and off with the street and pedestrian lighting, so during the darkness hours, Droplet takes on another whole new shimmering persona. The Dynalite DMX control system was pre-programmed by Light Application and Green at the latter’s studio in Perth, and the whole work transported in its entirety across the country for installation. Droplet has already become massively popular and received much critical acclaim as a high profile, captivating piece of public art. Photography by Martin Ollman www.anolis.eu