German Design Award 2015

With light as the sole transformative element, Silo 468 reinvents a functionally abandoned oil silo sitting near the sea, facing central Helsinki, into light art and a public space.
Wellknown to the inhabitants of Helsinki, the area’s prevailing winds served as the muse for the design team from Lighting Design Collective. Using natural light, wind and the movement of light on water as visual inspiration, and perforating the walls of the silo with 2012 holes in honor of the World Design Capital year, this project embodies the aesthetic and technical excellence indicative of IALD International Lighting Design Award -honored projects.
“The creativity in using both electric lighting and daylight to create a living, breathing space shows how light can transform an abandoned industrial element into a well-used public attraction,” one IALD awards judge commented of the project.
Silo 486’s 2012 circular cut-outs are fitted with 1,280 2700K LED domes. The lighting design team developed bespoke software using swarm intelligence and nature simulating algorithms that refresh responding to parameters, such as wind speed, direction, temperature, clear night and snow. The patterns are fluid, natural in feel and never repeat. Patterns start off moving slowly but speed up inrelation to the wind speed, creating a constantly changing mural of light.
Exterior floodlights with 2700K white and red LEDs are used to illuminate the form of the silo during sunset. After sunset the floodlights dim, allowing the naturally moving pattern to become the primary focus. When viewed from central Helsinki, 3 kilometres away, the pattern appears to be floating in mid-air. At midnight, the exterior turns deep red for one hour, referencing the former use of the silo as a container of energy. At 2:30 A.M, the lights turn off.
The inside surfaces of Silo 468 are painted a deep red. Fitted behind the cut-outs are 450 steel mirrors moved by the strong area winds. With sunlight, the silo appears to glimmer like the surface of water. The warm white LED grid reflects light indirectly via the red walls into the space, and the moving patterns read as halos racing across the walls.
“The magical experience in the interior is breath-taking and so unexpected,” one judge praised of the interior space.
Silo 468 has transformed itself into a civic space for the citizens of Helsinki. Light intervention has created a new space for the people of the area.

Dieses faszinierende Lichtobjekt in unmittelbarer Nähezur Stadt Helsinki ist der symbolische Vorreiter eines neu geplanten Stadtteils für rund 11.000 Menschen. Die öffentlich zugängliche Installation fand ihren Platz in einem ungenutzten Ölsilo und nutzt sowohl das Sonnenlicht, das durch 2.012 Öffnungen, die mit kleinen beweglichen Metallplättchen versehen sind, in das Objekt hineinfunkelt, als auch 1.280 LEDs, deren Licht innen, aber auch kilometerweit von außen zu sehen ist. Die interaktiv gesteuerte Anlage reagiert auf Sonne und Wind und mithilfe von Schwarm- Intelligenz und erzeugt sich nie wiederholende, faszinierende Lichtmuster, die an das Glitzern von Sonnenlicht auf dem Meer und an vorüberziehende Vogel- und Fischschwärme erinnern.
Ein einzigartiges PR-Modul, das unübersehbar eine neue Ära der Stadtplanung in Helsinki markiert. Spektakulär.