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Arial view of piazza |
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View from Piazza |
LIMINIS / Liminal Millenium Device
Proposal for Piazza Duca D'Aosta, Milan, Italy
1999-2001
In 1999, the city of Milan sponsored a competition for a luminous sign that would inaugurate the coming millenium by celebrating the past century's technological achievements. The chosen site, the Piazza Duca D'Aosta, is a major point of convergence for the city's transportation network, sitting in front of the Central Rail Station, above two levels of metro lines, and adjacent to pedestrian, auto and bus routes.
LIMINIS occupies the rim of a circular void set in the center of the piazza, connecting the two levels of underground metro lines to the open air. Its geometry transforms this void into an irregular polygon. Each side is composed of chambers of glass and mirrors, with hidden light sources illuminating parts of the chambers by slowly turning on and off at a steady, continuous frequency. The configuration of mirrors is designed to direct reflections and light both vertically and horizontally: up from the underground and out across the piazza and vice versa. The configuration of lights is designed to create varying states of transparency, as light appears reflections disappear. LIMINIS conceals as it reveals, altering expectations of the frame through changes in illumination.
LIMINIS permits free association with any technological achievement, catastrophe, ambition, or folly. It expresses the neutrality of technology and our predicament in being a technological species.
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Arial view of piazza |
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View from Piazza |
Video of model