Client: The Broward Cultural Council and Royal Caribbean Cruise Ships

Overview

Visual Voyage is an interactive light wall that features a stylized map that circles the equator. The wall is backlit with a controllable LED lighting system programmed with colorful animations that dance across the map, mimicking the sun’s path as it travels along the axis. Passengers waiting to embark on a cruise can connect via smartphone to interact with the installation’s lights by moving them east or west.

This permanent installation is located inside the Port Everglades Cruise Terminal 25, homeport for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines’ new ship, the Celebrity Edge. The artwork resides in the cruise terminal check-in hall and stretches across two large sections of wall with a faux painted bump out in between, covering 335 feet with 12-foot tall panels.

Goals

This concept is intended to be a contemporary visual abstraction of the familiar patterns of Earth’s landmasses. This “gamification” of the sun’s path encourages visitors to play, interact, and work together, inspiring passengers to connect with others before boarding the ship. Guests can participate from any area of the check-in hall, while standing in line or sitting in lounge chairs and bar seating.

Process

In this installation, the light is controlled via web-based interactivity. By clicking the button EAST or WEST, the visitor can control the “sun’s light,” triggering it to travel through each of the 24 international time zones featured on the map. As viewers move the sun toward the end of the map and across the international dateline, a “light show” of patterns and effects across the entire installation.

The lighting effect is achieved with recessed LED bars located at the top and bottom behind the perforated panels, creating a wash of colored light grazing the wall and focusing a “hot spot” of light along the zone of the equator. Each aluminum panel was custom CNC milled, carving out various hole sizes to create the abstracted image of the map. The LED backlighting consists of 24 zones of light, each zone representing a different time zone along the north-south axis of the globe.

Additional Information

This public artwork was commissioned by the Broward Cultural Division Public Art & Design program. Peg Buchan, Assistant Director for Port Everglades, said the Studio HHH proposal stood above the rest of the applications for its “youthful generational appeal” that relates to travel while also prompting visitor participation.