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The Heart of Siberia Urban Lighting Show by Pitch Bureau |
Home > Winners > Design #97881 >Interview |
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FS: What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?
PC: Our aim was to revitalize the city's center by creating a permanent light/audiovisual installation with various scenarios played on the schedule. In order to do so we have decided to visualize genius loci of the Siberian city Krasnoyarsk and to present some of its sights, landmarks, and other peculiarities, such as the river Yenisei, taiga, mountains, hydroelectric power plant, etc.
FS: What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?
PC: All sights, landmarks and other peculiarities mentioned above have definite familiar images. However, it was impossible to display clear images on the architectural objects (except media facades) because of the physical limitations of the working surfaces and different points of view. So, our main idea was to express those definite familiar images through dynamic abstractions. In a sense, such approach, that is also called 'emotional design', develops the ideas of Wassily Kandinsky and El Lissitzky.
FS: What are your future plans for this award winning design?
PC: It was not the first time we have been engaged in the transformation of the urban environment in Krasnoyarsk, so it is important for us to maintain the relationship with the city. We also hope that such an example will set a trend for other cities, so they will turn to their inhabitants and their needs, making cities more comfortable places for living.
FS: How long did it take you to design this particular concept?
PC: We developed our first project for the urban environment of Krasnoyarsk in 2018. It was implemented on the architectural complex on the junction of the river Yenisei as well, so we already had some ideas to be fulfilled. It took us about 6 months to implement the first project, and the second one was conducted in 3 or 4 months.
FS: Why did you design this particular concept? Was this design commissioned or did you decide to pursuit an inspiration?
PC: The general framework was commissioned by the city administration, however our team created the whole conception of the lighting, inspired by the Krasnoyarsk region and its culture. This design was based on the show's first version, so we understood the set up better and took in the account all its pros and contras.
FS: Is your design being produced or used by another company, or do you plan to sell or lease the production rights or do you intent to produce your work yourself?
PC: We at Pitch were in charge of the technical design and automation. It has allowed for the remote show upload and control so we have produced the full scope of content related work (from idea to content creation and uploading) ourselves. We do not have the rights for the show as they were passed to our client accordingly to our contract.
FS: What made you design this particular type of work?
PC: We love challenges. Actually it was the first stationary urban light show in Russia and as far as we know there are only around 5 or 6 such shows do exist in the world. It is a site-specific and time-based design. And it was a possibility we couldn't turn down.
FS: Where there any other designs and/or designers that helped the influence the design of your work?
PC: Before we started to develop our own idea, we had reviewed similar shows run over past 5 years all over the world. However, this project was unique as it incorporates different media (light, LED media facades, sound) across 3 objects located closely to each other (a bridge, a museum and a city music hall). So we had to create a brand new concept, especially keeping in mind local context. Moreover, we had already worked on some urban environment project in Krasnoyarsk (e.g., earlier that year we created a video-mapping show on the facade of Krasnoyarsk Pushkin Drama Theatre based on an ancient legend of the Evenks, indigenous people living in the Krasnoyarsk region for thousands of years). This experience helped us to elaborate new concept of the lighting show.
FS: Who is the target customer for his design?
PC: Locals and tourists, including those who intentionally visited the city to watch the lighting show - which were quite a few.
FS: What sets this design apart from other similar or resembling concepts?
PC: The unique and highly specific set-up, weather and environment conditions (with harsh winds and temperatures plummeting below -40 C in winter), and the fact that presented abstract images are deeply rooted in the genius loci of the city and region, its cultural, industrial, and natural heritage.
FS: How did you come up with the name for this design? What does it mean?
PC: Krasnoyarsk is an informal capital of Siberia and is often referred to as "Siberia's Heart" by the locals. We liked the name of the show “The Heart of Siberia” as it is also a kind of umbrella notion for all main ideas we wanted to present in our show: “The Yenisei River”, “Krasnoyarsk Pillars”, “Taiga”, “Gold Rush”, “Mountains”, “Snow and Ice”, “Hydroelectric Power Station”, “The Steel Mill”. As we created a concept of the show using maxims of emotional design, it was clear that the title had to refer to senses rather than to reason.
FS: Which design tools did you use when you were working on this project?
PC: We used some 3D and motion graphics software to create general visualization and hand-written code to develop a lighting script and to program lighting control consoles.
FS: What is the most unique aspect of your design?
PC: From the technical part we have employed some original technical solutions - eg, placing light features on the bridge's suspension cables and custom automation solutions. The most unique aspect from the creative part was to present some of Krasnoyarsk sights and landmarks that have definite familiar images through dynamic abstractions.
FS: Who did you collaborate with for this design? Did you work with people with technical / specialized skills?
PC: One would never make this design without a team, on its own, as it is truly multidisciplinary. We mainly did it in-house, as Pitch is a creative engineering bureau which currently employs more than 30 highly qualified professionals in various fields, including engineers, concept artists and 3D modelers. However, we have also employed some specialists on out source, such as a composer, who wrote the music score for the show.
FS: What is the role of technology in this particular design?
PC: Technology is essential for this project. Architectural lighting complex included 15 000+ RGBW-controlled pixels, 2 000+ linear RGBW lamps, 2 LED media facades. They formed a system of 200+ DMX universes with over 100 000 DMX addresses. More than 100 automatization switchboards were designed and assembled to control that complex. 13+ km of cables linked those elements into a single network. Significantly enough, the system did not require manual operation: we have prescribed several scripts for its operation, which were linked to a calendar and were run automatically according to a schedule.
FS: Is your design influenced by data or analytical research in any way? What kind of research did you conduct for making this design?
PC: Each of our projects necessarily begins with a preliminary study. We normally set up a research team for any project. An extensive research allows to avoid epigonism: it is important to create novel combinations able to awaken new meanings.
FS: What are some of the challenges you faced during the design/realization of your concept?
PC: There were some physical limitations of the surfaces we worked with which made it impossible to display clear images on the architectural objects. These limitations defined the uniqueness of the whole project – the main challenge was to express some definite familiar images through dynamic abstractions.
FS: How did you decide to submit your design to an international design competition?
PC: The project got quite an overwhelming response at the time. So we were approached from different sides to submit it to some competitions, which we did, as we just wanted to share and present it to the international public.
FS: What did you learn or how did you improve yourself during the designing of this work?
PC: This show has proved once again the importance of collaborative working – it is an old truth, though. Collaboration is the only way to create and implement the most daring and ambitious projects.
FS: Any other things you would like to cover that have not been covered in these questions?
PC: The world we live in is rather chaotic, and chaos offers a lot of ways to make some of its parts orderly and meaningful. We love to see changes this project implementation have brought to the city as it has revitalized the city center and instantly became Krasnoyarsk landmark.
FS: Thank you for providing us with this opportunity to interview you.
A' Design Award and Competitions grants rights to press members and bloggers to use parts of this interview. This interview is provided as it is; DesignPRWire and A' Design Award and Competitions cannot be held responsible for the answers given by participating designers.
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