Project Statement

The project seeks to change the nature of the space, and its presence on the boulevard, while the LA Forum is in occupancy. It intends to find maximum effect with minimal means. The best way to both attract the eye and affect the most surface is through light.

The project acts as:

an abstract sign, to the Boulevard,

an invitation to enter, at the storefront,

an enveloping field overhead, once inside.

There are three basic components to the installation:

1. The Power Collection System, which consists of 3 PV panels to gather power, dramatically cantilevered off the roof on a Unistrut structure.

2. The Power Control and Storage System, which consists of a charge controller, (2) 200 AH batteries, a 300 W inverter, and all required breakers and cabling.

3. The Light Source and Distribution System, consisting of (2) 150 W metal halide lamps, individually housed in dedicated enclosures that contain a color wheel and a cooling fan; and 2000 linear feet of side emitting multi-strand fiber optic cable. The light sources are housed out of sight in the existing soffit over the entry, while the cable runs in two directions from the light source – through the exterior wall and up the façade to the PV panels; and under the entry soffit, across the ceiling.

The color of the light is changed for each type of occupancy: one color for Forum lectures, another color for Forum Exhibitions, a third for Woodbury exhibitions, etc.

The form of the color field (the shape the strands take across the ceiling) may be varied, within a limited range, by adjusting the clips that hold the fiber optic cables from the ceiling. This allows for differences between occupancies to be acknowledged by the installation. This also allows for adjustments to accommodate changes in the existing track lighting.

New gooseneck track light heads are provided to bring the exhibition lighting down to a proper height below the fiber optic installation.

The lamps will run on battery power for 18 hours on a full battery charge, allowing for 3 consecutive days of 6 hours run-time each between charges. If necessary, the lamps can be unplugged from the inverter and plugged into a standard electrical outlet for power, should the batteries run out before recharging.

The project leaves the walls and floors as they should be for a flexible exhibition space: open, unprogrammed, and ready to accept the unique demands of individual installations.

The project uses a zero carbon energy source, and expresses it to the public in a clear and dramatic way.

The project makes minimal demands on the existing building, leaving all existing structure, envelope, and systems in place and nearly undisturbed. It requires only three openings, one (weatherproofed) on the front façade, one in the soffit of the entry, and a new access panel in the face of the soffit. The PV panel support structure held on the roof through weight, with redundant safety tethers attached to the inside face of the parapet wall (no roofing penetrations are required).

All the major components of the system enjoy a high demand on the second-hand market, and can be resold (and reused) once the installation is demounted – recouping some of the initial cost for the LA Forum, and keeping them out of a landfill.

The proposal is a solution for both multiple identity and enthusiastic panoply. A light field, mutable in form and color, extends from above the boulevard, across the façade, and through the interior space the color may be codified according to occupant and use: one for Forum Exhibitions, another for Forum Lectures, a third for Woodbury functions, etc. the floors and walls are left as is best for a flexible exhibition space: empty, available, and unprogrammed the solution offers benefit to both the Forum and Woodbury, it does not disappear

The light field system is fiber optic cable: flexible side lit fiber optic ribbons, 1’ diameter low voltage fiber optic illuminators with integral color wheel, remote control dmx controllers in master / slave cabling layout, hidden in the existing soffit an alternate system is electroluminescent cable, less expensive but not as bright

The support system is drapery technology: ceiling mounted double traverse rods, manually operated monofilament line, from rods to rings clear plastic rings, sleeved around the light strands allows simple, fast, parametric modification of the form of the light field

The power system is self contained photovoltaic: zero carbon power source translucent thin film amorphous silicon laminated panels the panels allow sunlight (coming from behind the building) to filter through a unistrut structure cantilevered as a canopy from the roof carries the panels lithium ion power storage is hidden in existing soffit system could be expanded to become grid connected and offset a portion of the building’s carbon output