For the city of Torgau we developed lighting proposals for a contemporary individual illumination of the market place, the town hall and the adjacent central streets within the scope of the redesign of the illumination of the historic city center.
The concept respectfully integrates the lighting into the valuable historic townscape.
Movable boxes of one square meter size with dancers moving in and out of the spaces, which can be stacked and changed to create a variety of scenes.
Questions like: How much space does a person need or does the interaction of humans with their built environment affect our interaction with each other.
Inside and outside, day and night, light and darkness, safety and risk, communication and non-communication, loneliness and togetherness were all part of an “architecture dance.”
The Architecture Theater Dance Project was performed at the Project Theater in Dresden. Visitors moved freely through the architecture city / landscape and interacted with the dancers. The boxes were examples of simple low-budget and affordable architecture.
The production is Ruairí O’Brien’s first “Microarchitecture” project and the precursor to his micromuseum® series.
As part of the urban redevelopment of the Sonnenstein district of Pirna, one of the 17-story high-rise apartment buildings was demolished, and the resulting brownfield site was made available for the upgrading the residential environment, which is not without problems.
O’Brien’s design for the design of the public open space contrasts the orthogonal austerity of the slab buildings with a more dynamic geometry that features four circles as a basic motif in reference to the different seasons.
Services: HOAI LP 1-8
Client: Städtische Wohnungsgesellschaft Pirna mbH
The main focus of Ruairi O’Brien’s lighting concept was on the central administration building of Dresden University Hospital. The carefully accentuated illumination of the façade and the roof, which was approved under monument protection law, increases the perceptibility of the building and thus does justice to its central importance.
Elements in the surroundings, such as the pedestrian entrance and the avenue of trees in front of the main portal of the building, were also integrated into the lighting design.
The architectural concept conveys the history of the building in the mirror of its leading objects. The human being as a body that can be disassembled and made transparent is compared to architecture and inspired by it (structural representation of skin, skeleton, organs; proportions, symmetry / asymmetry etc.). The wholeness of the human body, assembled from individual parts, corresponds to the interplay of architectural modules, each of which, as a microarchitectural, self-sufficient element, at the same time forms a part of the whole. A first module, the architectural installation “Winged Altar” for the “Anima” returning from EXPO 2000, was already on display at the German Hygiene Museum.
Client: German Hygiene Museum Foundation
In the Chemnitz Spinning mill building, where about 2,200 people worked in GDR times, more and more smaller companies have been settling for several years, using the old industrial halls as open spaces, workshops or storage rooms. The future lighting situation is intended to remove the current anxiety-inducing spaces caused in part, by darkness. Which were created by the missing scattered light, of the former 24-hours-a-day-illuminated industrial halls. To support a long-term and sustainable development of the partially listed building complex, towards a lively and actively used area, Ruairí O’Brien.Lichtdesign was commissioned by the city of Chemnitz to develop a lighting concept that does justice to the many new possible uses.
The lighting grasps the historical lighting situation while at the same time taking into account current lighting requirements. The industrial heritage value of the building ensemble remains tangible even after dark. With the help of a sustainable lighting concept consisting of energy-saving, reduced lighting that avoids unnecessary light emissions, visitors are intuitively guided to the site. The realization upon the whole area of the spinning mill building in old Chemnitz can be done step by step in the next years, as various intermediate scenarios have already been considered in the lighting concept.
The lighting concept for the spinning mill building was developed within the framework of the EU project “URBACT 2nd Chance”, with the help of which the large old factory complex of the spinning mill building old Chemnitz is to be reawakened.
You can download the lighting concept under the following link: https://www.chemnitz.de/chemnitz/media/unsere-stadt/stadtentwicklung/eu-foerderung/urbact/2018-08-28-lichtkonzept_spinnereimaschinenbau_kurz.pdf
Three arts, one theme: Ronald Lippok (sound), Thomas Kunst (poetry) and Ruairí O’Brien (light) presented the BARDINALE theme “Cities by the Sea” in 2005.
The focus was on the diversity of poetic forms of expression and at the same time the uniqueness of poetry, sound art and light poetry was emphasized. The three artistic interpretations were presented in separate sequences, so that the audience had the chance to experience and compare the realizations of one and the same theme within the three poetic expressions. The dramaturgy of this synthesis of the arts in terms of time and content allowed each genre the greatest possible creative freedom and sole attention.
At the invitation of the city of Leipzig, a winter or Christmas light concept was developed by Ruairí O’Brien in a workshop process. The concept follows the title “inside-outside” and, under the motto “Zeitgeist with heart”, pursues the goal of contrasting a “city ring frozen in light” with the warmly illuminated city center. The aim is to create a fairytale experience. This is achieved through “bulbous thermodynamic lighting” that bathes the ring in a cold white neutral light and the downtown area within it in a warm and homey light. This urban gradation is proposed not only as a Christmas lighting concept, but as “winter lighting” as a whole, corresponding to the temporal dynamics of the winter and advent season.
The concept was recommended for further development for realization with a special appreciation mainly due to its urban design approach.
Client: City of Leipzig, Urban Planning Office
Services: Lighting concept
Our lighting concept for the Saxon Fire Brigade Museum Zeithain allows for a modular expansion in the next years, adapted to the growing success of the museum with its important collection focus of Saxon and East German fire fighting technology.
As part of the first expansion stage of the future museum lighting (to be realized in September/October 2020), various lighting options for the permanent exhibition were examined and the lighting concept was verified at the original location, in coordination with the client’s financial framework. Among other things, the ideal color temperatures, illuminance levels and light scenes for the object illumination were coordinated.
Photos: Light test museum lighting July 2020
Science-Fiction City, feasibility study amusement park, project development (phase 1) SABRA – Bischofswerda site.
The task was to develop a conceptual idea for the revitalization and economically sustainable development of a derelict industrial site, taking into account local and regional location factors, with the aim of creating a use with a high level of attractiveness and super-regional appeal, which would entail the development of further commercial marketing opportunities and create development impulses for the city and region.
Result: Visionary development concept for the Science Fiction-City theme park with a basic investigation of the topic, architecture, feasibility, realization:
Potential analysis (location, theme)
Architecture (including the existing historical monuments)
Dramaturgy concept
Investment cost estimate
Development stage plan
Investor publication (bilingual project description for the acquisition of investors in the international area)
Client: City administration Bischofswerda, Lord Mayor, City Marketing
