Ambiances Lighting & Visual Design along with architectural lighting manufacturer Iluminarc announce the launch of the Aurora Borealis project.
Aurora Borealis is a permanent and kinetic architectural illumination on the nearly 2,000-foot long (600m) by 100-foot tall (30m) façade of the Bunge's grain silos, located in Quebec City's old port.
Aurora Borealis is inspired by the Northern Lights phenomenon. It is a contemplative illumination, which aims to be an artistic rendering of nature's beauty. It is transposed through five themes made up of sequences with color changes, movements and intensity variations such as the ones found in a Northern Lights episode, which fills the late night northern horizon with a greenish or sometimes faint red glow.
Aurora Borealis is also the meeting of two creators, Robert Lepage and Martin Gagnon, long-time collaborators on such projects as The Image MillMC, Zulu Time and Elseneur.
To achieve this public place intervention, the designers used green technology that requires little maintenance.
More than 500 Iluminarc 48 IP LED fixtures were specified for this project through Iluminarc's Canadian dealer Erikson Pro. LED fixtures were selected because this technology is known for its low energy consumption, long life, low maintenance and reliability.
The complete installation consists of 574 LED spots in addition to the 1,000 variable white LED pixels, used to create a starry night effect over the entire south façade of the building. The whole lighting system is completely automated. The project was created and installed by Ex Machina.
The lighting installation will be a single theme daily, from dawn to 11:30 p.m. (Eastern Time) until 2013.
The city of Quebec is the main sponsor of the project. The project received financial aid from the Commission de la Capitale Nationale du Quebec.