Urban interactive from Expolight, or how to turn a city square into a source of national pride

/ Technologies /

During the year of its existence, the project of interactive lighting of Freedom Square in Mariupol brought Expolight victory in the two largest international competitions IES Illumination Awards (New York) і LIT Lighting Design Awards (Los Angeles).

The complex multifaceted plan implemented by the company turned out to be extremely innovative not only for Ukraine, but also for the whole world, and turned the city square into a source of joy and pride for one's country. Being a part of the complex lighting strategy of Mariupol, the Expolight project solves several tasks at once and starts the global transformation of the city, which is changing its image from industrial to recreational.

"The transformation of Svobody Square is one of the central elements of the future master plan, which we are currently actively working on. This is the largest city square where Mariupol residents can gather. Therefore, it was important to announce the rebranding from an industrial center to a city by the sea right here, to mark the strong ties between all regions of Ukraine, and to do it in such a way that pride for one's country arose both from the storytelling itself and from the impressive variety of technologies involved." - says Mykola Kabluka, head of the Expolight company.

Mykola Kabluka, founder and chief lighting designer of the Expolight company

The task set by the Mariupol City Council to create a project that has no analogues in Ukraine was not only fulfilled, but also exceeded - there are no such facilities in the world in terms of their technological and functional content, such as Svobody Square. So, the creators had no reference points to follow, and had to push back from the location itself, gradually stringing different meanings onto it and using super-modern technologies to realize them.

 

Cultural codes

The presence of a tribune-amphitheatre behind the square led to the idea of ​​turning its entire plane into an interactive screen, which you can not only look at from the audience, but also be inside the "stage" and be active participants in the show. When the "screen" and projections were decided, the question arose about the location of the equipment.

Considering the openness of the space, it was decided to add a hollow form to the supports for the lasers and lighting placed in the thermal boxes, which, on the one hand, will serve as a case, and on the other hand, will carry a decorative and meaningful load.

The sculptural image for the cases was suggested by the name of the square. So a flock of birds soared at different heights appeared in the sky. In the process of creating the design of the form collected from the polygons, from another functional task — to make perforations on the wings of birds to reduce sailiness — the idea was born to use for this ornaments characteristic of different regions: 25 birds — 25 regions of Ukraine.

Each figure of a bird is decorated with a perforation — an ornament corresponding to one of the 25 regions of Ukraine

The next step of the designers was to add an educational moment to the scenography. "While adapting Ukrainian ornaments for our purpose, I paid attention to the similarity of the graphic structure of the ornament and the QR code. They are really similar, and both are codes: an ornament is a cultural code of a specific region, a QR code is a code of modern culture," says Mykola Kabluka.

In the process of creating a design from a functional task — to make perforations on the wings of birds to reduce sailiness — the idea was born to use ornaments from different regions of the country for this purpose: 25 birds — 25 regions of Ukraine

A QR code was placed on each light pole with a bird, which leads to a page on the Freedom Square website dedicated to this area, with a photo and brief information. Thus, after wandering around the square, you can take a virtual trip across Ukraine and see how diverse and beautiful it is.

According to statistics, 90% of residents of Donetsk region have never left its borders, and the fact that Expolight records an average of 500 QR code scans per week indicates that the company managed to attract Mariupol residents and visitors to the educational and entertaining game.

 

Media from lasers and light

The evening laser show is a projection of 25 symbolic flowers that are transformed into geographical contours of regions, connect and form a single map of Ukraine. Outside the show, the square is illuminated depending on the day of the week, the season, and thematic laser projections are created within each light scenario.

"Freedom Square is the largest city square where Mariupol residents can gather. Therefore, it was important to announce the rebranding from an industrial center to a city by the sea right here." Photo: Ivan Avdeyenko

Also, the square responds sensitively not only to calendar holidays, for which special content is provided, but also to important events in the life of the country and the world. The exit of the Ukrainian national team to the quarter-finals of Euro-2020, the Day of protection against domestic violence, the anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster and many other events were reflected in the light images of the square during this year, thus fulfilling the function of the light media of the city, laid down by the authors.

With a mobile phone and a light QR code, anyone can create and launch their own laser dolphin for 30 seconds. Photo: Ivan Avdeyenko

Thanks to a flexible digital control system, the Expolight team remotely creates special situational content at the request of the city. Its "filling" is monitored through cameras, the event is entered into the schedule, after which certain messages are triggered and the central square of Mariupol "talks" to the citizens and expresses its position.

This possibility of transformation allows the show to be constantly interesting and alive, and, according to Expolight's estimates, the relevance of the proposed solutions should ensure the project at least ten years of successful operation.

The graphic structure of Ukrainian ornaments and QR codes is similar: an ornament is a cultural code of a specific region, a QR code is a code of modern culture. Photo: Ivan Avdeyenko

Freedom Square received the status of the world's first interactive open-air public space thanks to another Expolight know-how: dolphins splash in the caustic waves symbolizing the sea, which are "created" by the visitors themselves, by scanning the light QR code right there on the square and entering special application.

Anyone can create and launch their own laser dolphin for 30 seconds

"To create the effect of clean sea water with sun reflections on the surface, we developed special caustic glass-blowing filters and corresponding diodes for them. And when the sea appeared in the scenography, we also made it interactive: during the last 20 minutes of every hour, with the help of a mobile phone and a QR code, any person can create and launch their own laser dolphin for 30 seconds.

You can choose your gender, profession, and color range — about 180 options in total. The most popular was a dolphin in the form of a rock star. During the evening, the children manage to launch about a thousand dolphins!" Mykola says.

 

Additions of uniqueness

Expolight is the author of the concept and idea of ​​the project, the script of the laser show and daily seasonal modes, graphics and musical accompaniment, as well as the creators of dynamic light programs for all elements of the square: tribune, flagpole, trees and fountain; by the developers of the web application — the designer of dolphin projections and a special website designed as a digital mirror of the real Freedom Square, as well as by the developers of design, construction and manufacturers of decorative lighting poles.

Dolphins, which are "created" by the visitors themselves, splash in the caustic waves symbolizing the sea. Photo: Ivan Avdeyenko

The project currently ranks first in terms of complexity in the top of the company itself and worldwide, as evidenced by the prestigious awards received by the company: "The jury of the IES Illumination Awards and the LIT Lighting Design Awards evaluated our project for its innovativeness, management complexity, immersive solutions and philosophy of values, encrypted in scenography.

The project in Mariupol is far ahead of all existing public spaces in developed countries with unlimited budgets, such as China, Japan, and the United States. To implement it, we had to overcome many technological challenges.

Expolight created dynamic light programs for all elements of the square: tribune, flagpole, fountain and trees

In particular, we have developed a complex server, which has no analogues, which allows you to synchronize the laser, color dynamic elements, white smoky lamps, laser installations controlled through optical routers, sound, fountain management, and tie it all together with a complex daily and annual schedule. From a certain date, the fountains are turned off, the soundtracks change... This is objectively a very difficult project," says Mykola Kabluka.

The Svobody Square project in Mariupol takes the first place in terms of complexity in the ranking both of the company itself and in the whole world, as evidenced by the prestigious awards received by the company. Photo: Ivan Avdeyenko

The next stage in the implementation of the lighting master plan will be the work on the private university "Metinvest Polytechnic" according to the project of the Dutch bureau MASA Architects. The university is located on the territory of a park adjacent to Freedom Square, and will be connected with it by the lighting concept.

According to Mykola Kabluka, the appearance of the university will continue the trend of rapid development of Mariupol, which already evokes a sense of pride for its native region thanks to the world-class public space created by Expolight.

 

Text: Kateryna Oshemkova

Photo: Ivan Avdeyenko