Light-emitting diode (LED) lighting has gone beyond providing a more cost-effective and environment-friendly way of lighting up homes, offices and venues. Recent years have also seen its emergence in the form of technologies and innovations that augment our lifestyles and provide levels of entertainment never seen before. One fine example of these innovations is the Cage of Lights, an interactive architecture conceptualised by renowned Brazilian architect and designer Guto Requena, which was revealed last month.
Built over a dance floor at The Year, a nightclub in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the Cage of Lights features interactive LED lights that react to the club goers by lighting up in different colours and intensities depending on their movements.
This is made possible by a sensor placed on top of the cage that monitors club goers–their body movements, the size of the crowd, even their body temperatures–and uses the data to create different effects.
Usually, it is lighting that influences the mood of individuals. But here, the influencing goes two ways: club goers influence how the cage lights up through their movements and body heat, then the cage lights up in different ways to energise the crowd and keep them going. This provides a whole new experience for the club goers of The Year.
The placement of the cage also puts the club’s industrial interiors in a new light, contributing to Sao Paulo’s efforts in moving away from its image as a manufacturing hub.
The Cage of Lights is not the first of Requena’s works to make use of LED lighting. Last year, the Brazilian architect was also involved in a project called Light Creature, which involved leading a team in the retrofitting of the WZ Jardins, a hotel that was built in the 1970s.
During the project, the old infrastructure was covered with metal panels embedded with more than 200 strips of LEDs. The LEDs were then connected to sensors and microphones, allowing the LEDs to change colours depending on real-time events around the building. Street noise, people passing by, time of day and even the quality of air around the building can trigger changes in the building’s LED light patterns.
The Cage of Lights, just like the Light Creature, is a perfect example of how LED lighting can improve the way we live our lives, not just in terms of providing better lighting alternatives, but also in terms of how we experience entertainment.
Increasingly, LED lighting technology is becoming an integral part of everyday life and is enabling opportunities for invention and innovation.
