Old Cotton Flöha

lighting design presented for urban development funding day

On Saturday, May 4th, 2024, the City Funding Day took place again across Germany. Always a good opportunity to experience the funded projects directly on site.

We supported the city of Flöha with visualizations, the redesign of the Old Cotton with the day and night lighting concept by Ruairí O’Brien. Presenting lighting design to the public.

With the help of QR codes on four different banners that were hung around the construction site, visitors could and can take a look into the future and explore the new marketplace for themselves, day and night, from four different perspectives in 3D format. The banners and perspectives will continue to be visible in the future. View here

Food Court GUC

Shade roof Food Court GUC

The images show our design proposals for a shade roof on the central square in the university campus of the German University in Cairo to optimize the conditions of use there.
The space is primarily used for catering for students and employees. It is a popular meeting place and location for meetings and presentations. Current information about university operations runs on the large screen. Due to the climatic conditions, it is often not possible to use the food court during the day, especially in summer, as the temperatures are too high and people therefore tend to seek out closed rooms or the shade. It was against this background that the project to build a shade roof came about.
The following goals are associated with this:
• Improvement of the heat situation during the day through shading (shade roof)
• Enabling use in the evening by illuminating the square from the shade roof
• Increase appeal – more guests use the food court
• Increased length of stay – guests stay longer
Our work consisted of the architectural concept for a large-scale roofing in several variants. By Ruairí O'Brien. For this purpose, a suitable lighting concept was developed for the attractive staging of the room below.

Further information can be found at the following link.

Eternity

Competition entry by Ruairí O’Brien for the Frechen Central Memorial

Ruairí O'Brien's work of art "Eternity", with its striking and at the same time simple elements in a material and metaphorical sense, forms a dignified space for remembering all victims of the National Socialist tyranny. The two vertical masts and the line of light floating horizontally between them mark and house the real Fre¬chen green space; At the same time, through the immaterial spaces in between, they inspire an unlimited mental wandering between times, spaces and events. A line crosses the sky and illuminates the ground below. At the same time, reference is made to the spatial and temporal significance of the topic. The meta-level created in this way, which can be perceived haptically / visually / with the senses, forms an expansion space and yet an ensemble with the information board designed for concrete, authoritative verbal information about the history. 
“Simplicity gives complexity” - Simplicity allows and harbors great complexity here. 
The work of art brings public attention to the central memorial site. It marks this central square as a central memorial day and night and symbolically refers to the places where the events took place. The work encourages you to linger, to pause, and offers flexible space for mediation work by institutions, groups and individual actors. 
The line of light (bridge) that invites you to look, think and remember, it remains, it is always there.
The work of art has a noticeable day and night effect. Depending on the viewer's location, depending on the time of year and day, depending on the weather, lighting conditions, environment and individual visitor's condition, it develops its effect - sometimes more delicate, sometimes more intense, always with a long-distance and close-up effect.
Anyone who approaches the work of art opens up different perspectives and perceptions. Viewers are reflected in the masts, their gaze connecting their own self with the surroundings and the subject matter. The environment is reflected in it, light is reflected and directed.