Unique dynamic lighting device

Artin team designed and developed a unique dynamic lighting installation for Bloc's massive green facade in Manchester, UK, which surrounds the existing entrances to the building's two main facades.

Artin team designed and developed a unique dynamic lighting installation for Bloc's massive green facade in Manchester, UK, which surrounds the existing entrances to the building's two main facades. The total length of the green wall structure is 60m across the two facades, with a maximum height of 14m, making it an important living green wall structure.

The Artin team combined dynamic light technology with living green walls to create a digital light canvas that can completely change the dynamics of the green walls and the appearance of the building from day to night. Combining light art with a living green wall structure was a design imperative, and the two needed to be linked in detail to create a seamless synergy between the technology and the biological organism.

The lighting system, integrated into the vertical green wall structure, had to be carefully developed to ensure that the physical design and components did not adversely affect planting, while also taking into account accessibility and ongoing maintenance of living plants. Custom vertical lighting grids and wiring channels will be embedded into the green wall system, creating a grid of digitally addressed RGB LED nodes. Each vertical passage is designed and arranged in conjunction with a vertical planter box system based on a 250m wide and 500mm high planter box. Each planting box is attached directly to the facade of the structure, and the vertical lighting passage is designed with a custom 3D-printed stand that combines the direct fixation of the planting box and the vertical lighting passage.

Visually, the embedded lighting grid will allow the facade to produce organic light movement across the massive facade within a vertical planting system, transitioning from green walls during the day to one of the world's largest living digital artworks at night.

Project title: Bloc

Location: Manchester, UK

Lighting design: Artin Light UK

Architect: Bridge Architects, UK

Owner: Bruntwood Works

Photography is by Gunner Gu