ICM Light Tapestry

Suspended Chandelier in Los Angeles Business Lobby

In 2016, we were asked to design and install a sculptural chandelier piece at the ICM Headquarters in the MGM Towers in Los Angeles, California. Light Tapestry, as we’ve dubbed it, hangs in the center of a five-story stairwell, with the top three floors being visible to the lobby via a large internal window. We worked closely with HoK Architectural Group to create a design suitable for this space. After much collaboration, we created an asymmetric three-story cubic array of free hanging LED pixels. The strands of pixels that make up this volumetric display were suspended under a mirrored base, producing an infinity mirror effect. The individual pixels were mounted on triangular white circuit boards with gold traces and were hung at regular intervals from a trio of suspended cables.

We worked with Tesseract to produce the custom mirrored base that housed the electronic guts of the Light Tapestry. In order to make the installation serviceable, we installed four lighting winch systems by Aladdin Lifts in the ceiling five floors above the ground level. The engineering involved in getting all four lift systems to run simultaneously was quite the challenge, but in the end it was the best way to gain access to the electronics inside the mirrored base.

Our design called for the ability to address each strand of pixels individually to enable patterns and subtle motion to be run through the array. Our custom drivers were controlled via standard DMX and control for this installation was integrated with ICM’s central lighting system. Because the client wanted LED’s that were all warm white, we were solely focused on the motion of the light patterns and worked with HoK and the client to achieve the ideal balance between subtle yet eye-catching.

This project was unique in that it had to be UL Listed (for us lighting nerds, this is the equivalent of passing the Bar exam). Work with HoK progressed throughout 2016, accommodating many design revisions and last minute requests by the client. By the time production began, it was a race to get our custom LED pixels and drivers manufactured within the compressed timeline. We spent months designing and engineering, weeks building, and many 18-hour days trying to wrestle this thing into place and make it look absolutely perfect. We nailed it, and it passed UL with flying colors.

Pin It on Pinterest

Have no product in the cart!
0