Six graduate students and assistant professor Dietmar Offenhuber have created an urban light installation as part of the Northeastern University’s masters programme in information design and visualisation.
Students on the course “Information design for dynamic media and light” at Northeastern University designed an information display that went on their building in the heart of Boston. It told viewers about the mood on campus during finals week, transforming the data collected from participants about the campus mood into pixels of light on the physical installation, which was also designed by the students.
Once the software and display were created, the students promoted their project to gather the data. Taken online, through a mobile app, or with wireless buttons in front of Ryder Hall, the poll asked community members if they felt anxious, relieved, determined, excited, or exhausted. Once a vote was tallied, several LED nodes lit up on the installation. The more votes each emotion received, the larger each color-coded light cluster became.
The Processing language which the students used to create the custom software for the façade was developed specially for creative practitioners. The software is integrated with an Ethernet-based Philips Color Kinetics control system consisting of a Light System Engine and three 90 sPDS-480ca power and data supplies. Each port on the power and data supplies powers one chain of 50 LED pixels. Some 18 iColor Flex SLX chains were also used.