Project Description

About

Illuminaut is a kinetic sculpture aimed to “shed light,” so to speak, on the issue of light pollution. The end goal is not to solve the problem of light pollution because it is an issue too large of a scope, but instead, to raise awareness of the problem occurring around us.

The Illuminaut team consists of four talented Simon Fraser University students, studying Representation and Fabrication in the School of Interactive Arts + Technology (SIAT).

Illuminaut is designed to be a metaphorical wall which represents the upward direction of artificial light to the night sky.

Issue

In mainly cities, light pollution is a problem that not many people are aware of because they are so engrossed in a tech savvy world. It is excessive and misdirected artificial light shone upwards to the sky as well as to surrounding areas with side effects such as harming people living in the area, wasting energy, and harming the environment.

Downtown residents in Vancouver have complained about bright lights coming from buildings and billboard ads, with some even seeing red from the intense lights. This problem is from stray light called blinding glare and can lead to reduction in sight capabilities.

Energy is also wasted with excessive and unnecessary lights used by commercial, industrial, and residential sectors. This is also called over-illumination plays a large part in the problem of stray light and glare.

From the pictures below, it shows how much light pollution drastically reduces the visibility of the stars also called skyglow in the night sky comparing a metropolis city (left) to a rural town (right). This can also affect wildlife, since some animals such as birds use the stars as their guide for navigation or hibernation as well as nocturnal animals who cannot do their daily routines normally.

Another problem caused by light pollution is the distruption of people's normal sleep patterns or circadian rhythms. Because the retina in human's eyes are sensitive to light, due to excessive amounts of light it can signal the suprachiasmatic nucleus, which regulates circadian rhythms. It thus sends information to other part of the brain and body to suppress the production of such hormones like melatonin, which lets people feel tired when their body is supposed to be.

Context

The context for Illuminaut is located in cities inside larger buildings with massive windows. It would be placed in the lobbies of these buildings since they are higher traffic areas with greater inflow and outflow of people who either work or live in the buildings. Also, the 1st floor lobbies are usually very spacious and have walls of windows, so it is a great location to raise awareness on light pollution.

Goal

The goal of Illuminaut is to address and raise awareness of the problem of light pollution, mainly focusing on the issue of blinding glare because it is an issue which affects people living in the city directly. Illuminaut’s target is to emit ambient and soft light directed upward to the ceiling inside buildings. This will also block any horizontal light that might escape from the building and causing a nuisance to people on the streets or inside the building.