Parking In Color

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“Parking In Color” is an interactive light/sound environmental artwork for a 10-story parking structure by artist/composer Christopher Janney. Located in downtown, Fort Worth,Texas, this unique building design is the latest example of Janney’s “Urban Musical Instruments” series, in which buildings become living structures as a result of interactive materials and technology.

Colored Glass
The building’s facade is enlivened by the Janney trademark of multicolored glass forms that he designed as part of the building’s facade. During the day, these transparent colored forms allow the sunlight to “paint” the building surfaces. At night, the colored forms are enhanced by a series of low-energy LED fixtures. This work is an extension of Janney’s exploration into the “hidden music” inherent in within the building’s architecture, from highlighting the rhythmic pattern of the glass façade to the movement of pedestrians throughout the elevator tower.

Interactive Sound
Central to “Parking in Color” is a score of environmental sounds indigenous to the Ft. Worth region. As part of the 10–story elevator tower, it is heard through individual audio speakers on each floor and in the elevator cabs. Each time a person enters the elevator tower, he is serenaded by an ever-changing “soundscape” of Fort Worth—including melodic instruments mixed with environmental sounds indigenous the to the area—from crickets, birds, animals to sounds of the prairie and the stock show. Once inside the elevator, a person continues to hear the score with slight pitch variation depending on the floor. When the elevator arrives at the ground floor, the doors open to a unique bell-tree chime. Rarely do the same eco-sounds repeat within a single timeframe, making this space an ever-changing refreshing experience.
At the outset of the project, the Mayor asked Janney to create a special building that would embody the future expansion of downtown Ft. Worth but also speak to its rich history. In reply,
Janney began with the great legacy of Art Deco design within the city, “Cowtown Moderne.”
He then mixed some of these historical cues with Art Deco’s early interest in colored glass

(LaLique, Daum) and its “hi-speed” forms. Using some of the latest building technologies and passing certain concepts through a “21st-century strainer” of his own vision, he created this unique icon for the city of Fort Worth.

Creative Team
Christopher Janney, Artistic Director, PhenomenArts, Inc.
Brent Byers, Project Architect, Jacobs Facilities, Inc.
Mark Wong, Software Director, PhenomenArts, Inc.
Bill Codington, Hardware Director, Codington SFX
Justin Keith, Construction Foreman, PhenomenArts, Inc
Joy McLaughlin, Project Manager, PhenomenArts, Inc.

Principle Materials/Equipment
Colored Glass
Solutia’s Vanceva Color Interlayer System

Interactive Sound Hardware
Intel Apple Mac Pro 2.66
3 Motu 2048 w/Behringer ADA 8000 via Lightpipe
30 Audio Channels:
4 Crown CST 8200 Amplifiers

30 JBL Control 23 Speakers

Elevator/MIDI Custom Interface
Designed to PhenomenArts, Inc. specifications by Codington SFX

Software
Custom design using Cycling ’74 MAX 5.0

Lighting
100’ LED T-8 Tube Lighting, LED Liquidators
37 Philips Color Kinetics Color Blast