Southeast False Creek Energy Center Stacks

Products: Color Kinetics ColorBlast12 Powercore™ 

Photo Credits: 
Kristopher Grunert Insert

Project Team:
City of Vancouver
PECHET and ROBB Art + Architecture
Walter Francl Architect
Sandwell Engineering
Eckford + Associates
Knight Signs
Elgar Electric
EOS LIGHTMEDIA
LIGHTWORKS

Project Description:

Southeast False Creek Community Energy Centre was developed utilizing sewage heat recovery to provide heating and domestic hot water to the local community including the 2010 Olympic Village. now Millennium Water. PECHET and ROBB Art and Architecture were retained to design the required five emissions stacks as a public art amenity and mitigate the industrial impact in a modern urban area. To reflect the fact that body heat is being transferred from one person to another Pechet and Robb invested the stacks with a human quality. The design concept called for each finger-like stack to be topped with a fingernail-like light fixture. The nail colour was to change from blue/cool to red/hot in response to the amount of energy being generated from the energy centre. LIGHTWORKS partnered with a custom sign manufacturer Knight Signs to take part in a collaborative design team working with the public artist, architect, electrical engineer, and local municipal government who all played a critical role in the final outcome. Intelligent RGB LED lighting technology was the clear choice to realize the design concept. Color Kinetics ColorBlast12 Powercore™ luminaires were mounted at the base of the curved perforated metal fingernails, three in front, two in between, and one at the back. LIGHTWORKS contracted EOS LIGHTMEDIA to design custom electronic control components to interface between the DMX Controller and an analog current signal outputted from the energy plant. The base system colour changes from blue to red as energy use from the plant increases, and the speed of pulse and sparkle modes fluctuates in parallel. The dynamic light interacting with the perforated metal fingernail material results in a true three dimensional iridescent effect.

"LIGHTWORKS involved owners’ representatives at the appropriate stages in the delivery of the False Creek Energy Centre stack fingernails. This integrated design process and the solutions offered by LIGHTWORKS resulted in a successful implementation of LED illuminated public art that responds to energy use in the SEFC neighbourhood". Chris Baber, Project Manager, City of Vancouver

The result worked very well in delivering the original design concept, and the process led a clear path to a successful result. Stephanie Robb, Pechet & Robb