LUXCITY: HALO Project // Tutor: Elvon Young, Yosop Ryoo //
Students: Antonia Fletcher, Keishya Adams, Wade Kobus, Brad Walters, Danae Nichol, Kahurangi Goulton, Ruby Lloyd, Nadia Rivai, Sarah Jennings, Amy De Nobrega, Maggie McMillan, Jewel Yan, Huai Hsuan Huang, Oliver Latimer, Michael Kean, MReza Monazahian
First Year | Semester Two | Spatial Design | Auckland University of Technology

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Halo Project is a large scale interactive light installation that aims to bring a community together. The structure forms a stage for the public to perform within thousands of handmade origami lanterns. It is brought to life when a participant donates a single breath to inflate one of the many compressed origami forms that hang on the interior walls of the Halo. Then network of lanterns becomes a growing life force as it unfolds over the course of the night. The success of the project is dependent of the public’s interaction. Each participant leaves a trace of themselves, leaving a sense of ownership in what they help to create.

 

Embedded across the surface of the structure was a network of 7000 compressed lanterns. Each lantern hangs waiting for a member of the public to participate. An individual selects a lantern and inflates it by blowing into the hole located at the bottom. Once fully inflated, an LED is activated which illuminates the lantern. Designing from the inside out, we developed an experiential project, creating an intimate, personal experience.

 

The Interactive nature of Halo began from a concept to connect individuals in a community network. The act of individuals inflating the Halo mirrors the concept of breathing life into an installation. This idea overall amplifies the life f a community, made up of individual contributions coming together. With every contribution, with every single activity the participants were actively accepting the request to be a part of a larger group or community. The life of the project was truly in the hands of the public and the community. This in itself was a risk which also created a unique beauty around the project.

 

On Saturday, 20th October 2012, Halo Project took part in Luxcity. Halo allowed Christchurch locals to collectively experience a new and vibrant city amongst their broken CBD; offering hope and a new start. The response at Luxcity was moving; individuals praised and thanked the Halo team members over and over, leaving us all with extremely touching and emotional memories. We were honored by the experience to create a space for the locals to participate in, as Halo was designed for the people, and was brought to life by the people.

 

We couldn’t have hoped for anything better. Wind created an extra dynamic to our project that we embraced over the period of the night. On the inner circle of Halo, the illustrations projected onto the wall of lanterns created a magnificient interior space that was closed off from the crowds. After time, this inner space became an impromptu dance floor for couples and groups of friends. Halo allowed us to witness a city of people whose thankfulness and gratitude in our project was so overwhelming it will not be forgotten.

 

Following the destruction of the 2011 Christchurch earthquakes, the city’s centre has been left with a void; a space with broken buildings and missing the buzz of people that enriched their city. With research we focused on what makes a city come alive by looking into the qualities of “community”. The earthquakes struck the heart of the CBD, where the most visible community interactions took place. The resilience of the Christchurch community was tested and their efforts towards rebuilding their city inspired us.

 

For the Luxcity festival, we were fortunate to have been given the opportunity to create a temporary installation of light for one night only in the CBD’s Red Zone. The gates that were shut for nearly 2 years were being opened for the first time. Most of those who came to the festival were anxious to return to the site the earthquake affected most; curious to see what hid behind the council’s cordons but also afraid of reliving the loss of their city. Organisers of the festival said they “wanted to create the illusion of an urban scene for one night, so Christchurch could remember what it had lost and what it wanted to recover” (press.co.nz).

 

We aimed to create an installation that aided in reconnecting this community by designing a structure that relied on the participation by the community as a collective. On Saturday 20 October 2012, the Luxcity Festival lit up and welcomed the citizens of Christchurch back into their CBD. Halo built a structure that would transform from the interaction of the public in a beautiful, shimmering space of light. Our structure featured a series of archways following a semi-circular path, which enclosed an interior a space where patrons could sit, enjoy a cup of coffee and watch the structure transform by their interactions. From the walls and ceiling of the passageway hung thousands of folded handcrafted lanterns, which members of the public were encouraged to inflate. As each person donated a breath into their lantern, it would illuminate and they were immediately rewarded with the pleasure of seeing the lantern responding in return. This intimate experience allowed one to see reflection of oneself within the lantern as well as a sense of personal contribution towards giving the Halo life. (The Listener, 20 October, 2012). The community began to see past the ruins and see possibilities that Christchurch could embrace in the future.