Prize(s) Honorable Mentions
Lighting Design/Product Company McDermottbaxter
Lead Designers McDermottbaxter
Client Willoughby CIty Council, Chatswood, Sydney, Australia
Photo Credits mcdermott baxter
Other Credits Drone footage Rudy Midya
Completion Date January 29 2024
Project Location Chatswood Concourse, Chatswood Sydney NSW Australia
Entry Description‘Soaring Dragon’ was created as part of the Lunar New Year Festival at a local council. For this project we undertook extensive research into the meaning of the Dragon in this horoscope and the visual characteristics. We found that dragons are traditionally associated with divinity, power and the ability to control weather. Often seen on the robe of emperors, nearly all depictions show them soaring into the sky or emerging from the sea. Whilst connected with tempests, they also bring peace and are benign deities not like the Western fire breathing dragons and they do not have wings. For our design, we wanted the dragon to appear to be emerging from the reflection pool on the lower level of the Concourse and flying off into the clouds thus creating a connection between water and sky. To create the aura of royalty and power, we used gold anodized finish for daytime presence and more reflectivity at night. ‘Soaring Dragon’ had a double skin of perforated aluminium internally illuminated with programable LMX nodes. The double skin created a ‘moire’ effect and added to the structural integrity. ‘Soaring Dragon’ was 6.5m long
Sustainability ApproachWith all our work we consider the circular economy and have ensured the the dragon has another home after the festival was finished. Soaring Dragon will be mounted as an artwork on the library walls of the council.
The lights we used are low energy LMX LEDs from Signify Lighting.
