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THE PERMUTATIONS that arise from the relationship between light and surface are probably infinite. So many variables will influence the interaction between the two: the nature and texture of the surface, its colour, its degree of reflectance, and the nature and position of the light source, whether daylight, sunlight or electric light. The effect can also be mercurial. Time of day and position in the space – both object and viewer – cause light and surface to react and relate in both radical and subtle ways. ‘Sometimes walls wait calmly for the moment to reveal striking shadow patterns,’ said architect Tadao Ando, ‘and other times water reflections animate unobtrusively solid surfaces.’ The following projects were all shortlisted in the lighting category of this year’s Surface and Design Awards. They cover a wide panoply of possibilities, from the understated to the overt, from complex reflectance to the simple filigree play of light and shadow.
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The Surface Design Awards took place at the Business Design Centre in Islington, London, on 9 February.
surfacedesignshow.com/surface- design-awards
MYCELIUM, BAY STREET BRIDGE, TORONTO LIGHTING DESIGN: GPI DESIGN AND ARTIST NICOLAS BAIER CATEGORY: EXTERIOR
The use of light – and especially light art – to transform unloved urban transit spaces or to add cachet to new ones has become increasingly widespread. Mycelium, an illuminated acrylic wall for an expansive 40m-long pedestrian bridge in downtown Toronto, is an ingenious example. Part of the newly created ofice complex CIBC Square, the bridge links the Scotiabank Arena and Union Station Bus Terminal. Created by artist Nicolas Baier and realised by GPI Design, the artwork marries fine engineering and meticulously tailored lighting and detailing. A custom-designed and highly complex hidden structural system houses multiple layers of precisely machined acrylic panels with a mirror-finish back. Combined with the illumination of the panels, this produces the illusion of infinite movement and energy, and is designed to evoke the root-like structure of a fungus. ‘The work refers to mycelium,’ says Montreal-born Baier. ‘The filaments of this natural network, formed of elongated and partitioned cells, are everywhere in the ground where they can cover thousands of metres or even several square kilometres. They are earth’s biggest living organism.’
The piece suggests the Canadian city’s ‘immense and complex networks through the means of transport,’ he says. ‘They
inspired the piece’s networks that evoke electrical paths, natural trees, roots or extensions of neurons. I want the piece to remind the public that the city is an immense network inhabited by humans themselves, social networks and interrelations with the entire universe.’ Various media, surface specs, layering techniques and fixture combinations were mocked up and tested before the precise effect was achieved using multiple layers of double-etched acrylic with a mirror-back finish illuminated with GPI’s Infuse LED backlighting system. An unusual feature of the work is that it is publicly visible not only inside the footbridge, but also through the exterior glass windows opposite the feature wall, creating a dynamic visual effect for pedestrians to appreciate from both inside and out.
‘The design is the result of what we could call a “virtual self-growing network” that uses the inherent qualities of the pattern of the glass and the structure of the bridge to “grow” itself,’ says Baier. –
Developer and client: Hines and Ivanhoé Cambridge Architect: WilkinsonEyre and Adamson Associates Additional design: EllisDon Lighting supplier: GPI Design
SIERRA CURTIS
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