The prolific Studio Roosegaarde has followed its Smog Free Tower and Waterlicht projects with a work that combines their respective environmental and light installation elements. Windlicht seeks to show the beauty of green energy by linking the blades of neighboring wind turbines with LED beams.
Studio Roosegaarde postulates that, while everyone wants green energy, few want the infrastructure in their backyard. Windlicht suggests that things can be done to give such infrastructure greater allure.
Inspired by Kinderdijk, a Dutch town in which a series of windmills dating back to 1740 were built to pump water out of low-lying land, studio founder Daan Roosegaarde conceived of a series of joined turbines that would likewise interact with their environment. By installing LED and tracking technology on turbine blades, a "dance of bright lines" could be created above the landscape that many people feel suffers visually as a result of the turbines.
Studio Roosegaarde won't divulge exactly how the system works, but says that special software is used to combine data from thermal cameras and sensors that track the 280 km/h (174 mph) rotation of turbine blades with LED aiming and stabilization systems. In this way, an LED beam from the blade of one turbine can be shone onto the blade of another and remain targeted on it as it rotates.
In series, the result has the appearance of multiple skipping ropes being spun by the turbines. "We wanted to add more poetry to the existing windmills; to add more play and dance to the Dutch landscape," Sylvie Londerman of Studio Roosegaarde tells Gizmag.
Windlicht can be viewed for free on the 18-19th of March at the Eneco wind farm in the town of St. Annaland.
The video below provides a look at the Windlicht installation in action.
Source: Studio Roosegaarde
