Mixed media (optical fibre, cylindrical diffusers, LED light source)
Nashville’s status and music traditions are being rejuvenated by a vibrant mix of contemporary business and has regained notoriety as a tourist destination, from a visitor’s point a view, Nashville is definitely a city on the move!
The idea behind the light installation City Lights is simply to capture some of this euphoric feel. My aim is to create a wow factor that will both enhance and unify all the elements that go together to create a luxury destination dining experience.
Creating City Lights was no mean feat; it consists of two installations, each with thirty six abstracted rectangular forms, given shape by collections of twenty five vertically suspended optical fibre. Each optical fibre terminates with a small metal cylinder, the interior of which has been milled out to the form a cone shape, devised to carefully capture and focus each point of the projected light towards the floor (without causing glare).
During daylight hours over 1,800 individual optical fibres will catch the natural light gently refracting and reflecting it within the space; then as the natural light fades the view across the restaurant and from outside through the glass will be one of softly glowing rectangular ‘columns’ each emitting a warm white light, creating the sense of a ‘city’ floating magically above the restaurant and being reflected within the ample surrounding glass. When seated at a table, diners will look up into subtle points of light encapsulated and refracted within the individual cylindrical diffusers, with a warm glow cast on the space they are dining around.
