Dynamic Sanctuary
Ford commissioned The Principals – a Brooklyn based design studio for an installation to be done at Sight Unseen OFFSITE, during NYCxDESIGN 2015. The installations had to be inspired by a new vehicle launched by Ford – 2016 Ford EDGE.
The interior of the vehicle provided a sanctuary from the traffic noise as well as driving stress. The designers decided to emulate the same feelings through their design. So the installation would act as a sanctuary for the visitors of NYCxDESIGN. They also decided to use biorhythms so that the lights pulse according to the heartbeat of visitors thus guiding them to a calmer state as they see the impact of heart visually. This led to the coining of the term – Dynamic Sanctuary.
The exterior part of installation was a unique structural system that designers coined as “inverted triangle diaphragm”. Each modular element was designed such that cell started as flat die –sheet but contoured so that when assembled, resulted in a stronger finish. Interior was a rectangular space having mirror panels on floor and ceiling. The wall consisted of 29 custom cut triangles which held more than 100 high powered LED lights. Also, each one of these triangles was connected to one of the eight LED drivers.
The Principals programmed an ‘arduino’, which was connected to a mirror polished podium having a Pulse Rate sensor used in medical diagnostics. This clip monitored the heartbeat of the visitor and the ‘arduino’ made sure that the pulse created by the lights by fading in-and-out was synchronized with the biorhythm. It certainly was a new experience for each visitor who experienced a simple happening shown in such a dramatic manner within an intimate space.
By : Vaibhav Sharma
