Walk of Stars 2014, China, Wuhan
Walk of Stars - An Interactive Walkway
Walk of Stars is a functional yet sensory sculptural walkway that has made the shopping plaza its located in a prominent landmark in Wuhan. This walkway is the vital link between Renxin Shopping Plaza's two main buildings, creating a unique kind of visual experience for the entire architectural complex.
The goal was to make new media technologies available for the average person to experience in a public space. Walk of Stars makes the very mundane act of walking a pleasurable and stimulating experience. One no longer just strides pass a standard pathway through the shopping plaza, it becomes an entertainment area that people can skip, glide, stomp or even dance through as they witness the ground light up into different design effects wherever their feet touch. The walkway links the second floor of the two shopping plaza buildings. It is roughly 30 meters long, made up of 680 LED tiles. When no one is touching the walkway, it lights up in random locations with random pattern displays, attracting the attention of the passing by visitors. When you take a step onto the walkway, the black glass tiles seem to come to life and multi-colored light begins to follow you and illuminate wherever you go. The light design is dynamic and can be customizable and changeable. The idea of the interactive walkway is to create a public space where human interaction and dynamic artwork can be fused together. Often media façades are designed for a very large and high impact scale, however, in this project, we have created an environment that's very stimulating and fun on a more personal scale.
Details
Building or project owner : Hubei Renxin Real Estate Development Co. Ltd.
Architecture : Hubei Renxin Real Estate Development Co. Ltd.
Project artist/ concept/ design/ planning : Xinyuan Cai
Facade design : Institute of New Media Art, Huazhong University of Science and Technology
Light design : Institute of New Media Art, Huazhong University of Science and Technology
Light hardware (LED hardware) : Wuhan Metaview Technology Co. Ltd.
Lighting control software : Institute of New Media Art, Huazhong University of Science and Technology
Project co-ordination : Zhenyu Zhao
Interaction design/ programming : Institute of New Media Art, Huazhong University of Science and Technology
Descriptions
Facade type and geometry (structure) : This interactive walkway is inspired by the concept that everyone who passes feels like and is a unique star, with starlight radiating out of every surface their feet touch. The touch sensitive interactive path is 2m*30m in total area made with 50cm*50cm*1.5cm large 64 pixel tempered glass LED display tiles.
Kind of light creation : The Walk of Stars illuminate colored light images wherever the feet touch the walkway. The design of the illumination can be customized to the needs of the plaza. It can be programmed to display stars, fish, flowers,words or random patterns etc. depending on the intended experience for the visitor.
Resolution and transmitting behaviour : The walkway is composed of LED tiles that have a resolution of 64 pixels, with a total of 240 tiles. A central system controls the interactive software for the walkway. The video display signal and the interactive sensors are all connected by UTP networks. the video information and the electrostatic induction sensors are both controlled and synced by a central control box.
Luminace : 8000lm
Urban situation : The interactive walkway is located right behind the media façade screen which connects the two main shopping plazas.
Description of showreel : The content of the display effect is determined by the way visitors walk and interact with the ground surface by stepping on different locations with different pressure.