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140 West Plaza: Exhale

Prize(s) Winners in Designer and Custom Lighting

Company Mikyoung Kim Design

Lead Designers Mikyoung Kim

Completion Date 2013

Project Location Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Entry Description

Located in the heart of downtown Chapel Hill, the 140 West Urban Plaza is the first development project in a larger town masterplan initiative to invigorate this college town with greater pedestrian oriented landscapes. The design celebrates the dispersion and evaporation of water, expressing the hydrological cycles of the environment. At night, the plaza becomes a dynamic space with a choreography of color and hydrology that infuses the plaza. The choreography of LED creates a transformative experience of color as it moves from one end of the sculpture and back. The mist and light move in tandem, filling the custom perforated stainless-steel cocoon. The fountain breathes color and ephemeral mist from one end of the plaza to the other; offering pedestrians incentive to stop and watch the choreographed light and hydrological play. The stainless-steel surface of the fountain becomes the transformative moment of hydrology from liquid to a gas, cooling the ambient temperature of the plaza.