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Digital Sculpture at Heathrow Airport Demonstrates that Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining
Posted by Addy Dugdale at 11:18 PM on January 30, 2008
Commissioned for the atrium of the brand spanking new Terminal 5 at Heathrow, Cloud is a digital sculpture conceived by art and design studio Troika. The five-metre structure is suspended above the escalators and consists of three layers. Find out what lies beneath the black and silver flick-dots, and see the sculpture in action below the gallery.
On top of an aluminium body sit 4,638 dots that can turn from silver to black in one quick flick. Beneath that lies two electronic drivers, 134 distribution boards and over 16,500 feet of cable. Controlling the flip-dots was harder than normal, however, and Pharos Architectural Controls, a company which develops electronic controllers for lighting applications, had to fiddle around with the control parameters and rewrite firmware on the drivers.
I like the flicka-flicka noise as the Cloud changes colour—It reminds me of the old-skool arrivals and departures boards in airports before everything went TV monitor-tastic. Terminal 5 opens on March 27 of this year, and if you're flying into London via BA, don't forget to look up as you hit the down escalator. [YouTube and Troika]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
cmsjustin
Posted 1:18 AM 31/1/08
It's like DLP, only not.
cmsjustin
monkeyrotica
Posted 1:18 AM 31/1/08
I will never understand the English fascination with chrome-plated turds.
monkeyrotica
MastaFalse
Posted 1:18 AM 31/1/08
cool.
MastaFalse
rususeruru
Posted 1:18 AM 31/1/08
Yay for old school (mechanical displays)
rususeruru
Mandatory_Field
Posted 1:18 AM 31/1/08
All it needs are some random lightning strikes....
Mandatory_Field
discounteggroll
Posted 1:18 AM 31/1/08
that thing is huge when put into perspective, and won't look like crap compared to the LED/bulb ones that slowly burn out one by one
discounteggroll
neoqueenx
Posted 2:18 AM 31/1/08
Seems to have a relaxing effect on me.
neoqueenx
jabber
Posted 2:18 AM 31/1/08
Looks more like a silver turd if you ask me.
jabber
Noobs-R-Us
Posted 2:18 AM 31/1/08
Looks like a misshapened photon torpedo.
Noobs-R-Us
parjoe
Posted 2:18 AM 31/1/08
Beautiful. I love when Giz features stories about art merged with technology.
parjoe
zenpoet
Posted 2:18 AM 31/1/08
@monkeyrotica: please provide another example of the English being fascinated by chrome-plated turds. I cannot imagine what sort of evidence you have to support your position.
@rususeruru and discounteggroll: I agree. I love the fact that it is not just blinking lights (sorry E).
zenpoet
nwgrede
Posted 2:18 AM 31/1/08
@discounteggroll:
Not so fast. Once one of those mirrored tiles decides to get stuck it'll be like every other art deco monster POS in every other airport in the world.
nwgrede
seanr1978
Posted 3:19 AM 31/1/08
@Noobs-R-Us: Wow. Mad props for finding the Trek reference in that. LOL
seanr1978
LittleJon
Posted 3:19 AM 31/1/08
@monkeyrotica: American's are in to chrome-plated turds, not the British. Just look at Harley Davidsons (not to mention all the ugly chrome wheels on cars here)!
LittleJon
kevjohn
Posted 3:19 AM 31/1/08
It's like a disco ball took a few tabs of good ol' lsd.
kevjohn
Gann
Posted 5:18 AM 31/1/08
@zenpoet: There's this:
[www.millenniumpark.org]
done by a British artist.
Gann
ANoel
Posted 5:18 AM 31/1/08
So coo... wouldn't be shocked if it had recogabilities... as I descend the escalator ..."HI ANOEL HAVE A NICE FLIGHT TO STATION 3 MARS"
ANoel
halfshaft
Posted 7:18 AM 31/1/08
Guaranteed to make me look up in awe, and fall down the escalator.
halfshaft
Noobs-R-Us
Posted 10:18 AM 31/1/08
@seanr1978: Well how about this then...It looks like a photon torpedo going through a tear in the space-time continuum.
Noobs-R-Us
geschmidtt
Posted 10:18 AM 31/1/08
Turd or not, it is very cool.
geschmidtt
zenpoet
Posted 3:18 AM 1/2/08
@Gann: game, set, match! It would appear that he DID know what he was talking about.
zenpoet