Client: Perennial Properties

Overview

ECHO is a permanent media facade commission site-specifically designed for the terrace ceiling of Perennial Properties’ new mixed-use development, Arya. Using custom 3d animation to reflect the celestial movements of the stars as they pass above the building location throughout the year, the 9 chapter media piece plays an epic one hour and forty-nine minute cinematic symphony revealed through fragmented views of the 100 facade panel design. The piece emphasizes a fluid architecture, where time-based spatial encounters transcend the static nature of the built environment, creating a communicative infrastructure and a hybrid sense of place for the 21st Century public realm.

(100) 16mm LED media facade panels, custom configuration
(9) 3d animation sequences
1:49:30 looped
65’ L x 19’ W

Goals

ECHO was developed as a key destination for the building, which serves as both the headquarters for the developer, Perennial Properties, and Art Collection location.

Working closely with the client team to optimize the potential of the site, Danielle Roney designed a fragmented viewing opportunity able to maximize overall visual impact. The unique lensing of this durational project enables chapters to unfold seamlessly for terrace-level viewers while street level and distance views engage pedestrian and vehicular traffic around the complex.

Coordinating in a symphony of reactions, the media facade activates the liminal space between the astronomical positions and the building location, transforming static architecture into a dynamic and spatial dialog. The perforated layout of the media display reveals an evolving, fragmented view of the location’s personal universe.

Process

This feature length animation project was commissioned for the art collection and location as a unique public realm contribution to the signature property.

The eight observation dates were coordinated with the winter and summer solstice, the autumn and spring equinox and the mid-points between them. ECHO's custom 3d animations utilize fluid dynamics in particle simulations to respond to these unique celestial pathways, giving viewers a distinct sense of place that resonates in a chorus of spatial and temporal distances.