Invited by the Tallinn City Government, MVRDV architects and Arup Lighting were asked to find solutions to realise the winning idea - a 'light cupola' above the city. The Light Dome is the precursor to more anticipated installations of a similar nature in Europe, and the design team hopes to install a larger one in London in 2006. Winy Maas of MVRDV interpreted the cupola as a foggy cloud above the city that could radiate light downward during the dark winter days. He handed over to local architect, Veronika Valk of ZiZi and YoYo, who progressed the planning, design and realisation of the light dome.
Arup's Rogier van der Heide came up with the idea of using 500 white meteorological balloons, each 2m wide with 'smoke' diffused around them to create a light reflective fog. Rogier explained: "This concept will create a reflective medium up above the city when lit from underneath to resemble an ethereal self-illuminated cloud". The balloons will be set out on a grid 25m x 25m to create a floating surface over the city. A denser type of bubble cloud consisting of hundreds of balloons will be tested as an alternative up above the central square of Tallinn. The cloud will be illuminated by 20 ArenaVisions lamps (provided by Phillips Lighting) on a small platform in the middle of the square. The smoke will be created by special candles and released from adjacent roofs.
Veronika Valk says: "The Light Dome is not just an aesthetic experiment - it has a direct biological influence. Almost half of local population in Estonia is suffering from SAD (Seasonally Adjusted Disorder) syndrome). This is about architectural light therapy in urban public spaces as a mood moderator."
(Mike Lethby)
