Lumine de Terra

Westfield LA
2015
Concept & 3D Design
Collaboration with Cory Barr

CNC cut aluminum and plexi compose an abstracted terrain map of the LA region.

Embedded LEDs illuminate the streetview city grid at night.

Created for a competition organized by UCLArts and Westfield. We were semi-finalists although our design was not selected for construction.

The main design challenge was creating an artwork that could fit in the specific location of the outdoor escalator entryway. The piece would be suspended between two beams and had weigh less than 2000 lbs. As well as holding up to the elements, the piece also would be viewed from both sides, as well as have night time visibility.

We proposed fabricating the sculpture as a laminate of powder-coated steel, plexiglass, and embedded LED film.

As part of the semi-finals, Westfield commissioned physical prototypes. We created a 1:1 scale prototype of a 40″X40″ section of the sculpture. It was an adventure that included many hours at the SF Techshop.