Back to News“River of Lights” is a captivating public light art installation created by Los Angeles-based lighting design firm Visual Terrain, Inc. in the City of Santa Clarita’s Central Park, featuring 80 Anolis ArcDot pixel luminaires. The installation was designed to engage the public, energize ideas, and encourage reflection and environmental awareness through the concept of beautiful, ephemeral flowing light, by telling the story of water flowing like a river, evaporating into the clouds, and storming down once more.
Visual Terrain’s team was led by principal designer Steven Young, who explains that the award-winning studio (which specializes in lighting design for architecture, attractions, and the arts), enjoys an excellent relationship with the City of Santa Clarita and has been involved in several other lighting projects there.
The ArcDot pixel luminaires gently trace the pathway of the 172-step exercise stairs and lead to a plaza with additional lighting that connects the stairs to a new art piece between the park’s soccer fields and parking lots.
The project is a collaboration between Visual Terrain and the City of Santa Clarita, the Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency and New York-based artist Sujin Lim. Lim created the “When Cloud Met a Cloud” art piece that anchors the River of Lights at one end of the plaza, while a set of exercise stairs anchor it at the other end.
The lighting installation also pays homage to the Los Angeles aqueduct cascades, a local water feature and landmark located in the nearby Newhall Pass, which connects the Santa Clarita Valley with the San Fernando Valley to the south. The Visual Terrain team took this inspiration as a starting point and produced a narrative-based lighting installation inspired by natural water cycles and the transformations involved.
The team was challenged to find a luminaire that could both blend and animate a harmony of colors that shift with the hues and layered texturing of Santa Clarita’s stunning sunsets, while creating flowing water movements and a shimmering “river of lights” effect.
The lighting hardware specification required IP rated, pixel-mappable, and highly dynamic luminaires, and after some extensive mock-ups and demonstrations, the Visual Terrain team chose ArcDots.
Each ArcDot is mounted on a special three-foot high stanchion designed by Visual Terrain and the City, staggered in positioning and flanking the steps on the hill, with a 39 / 41 split of fixtures on each side. The entire installation is powered from electrical points concealed in the bushes around the hill.
Steven noted that Visual Terrain has “known of and admired” Anolis products and had previously specified sister company Robe lighting moving lights and LED products for other projects. So, they were familiar with the brand and its reputation for quality and reliability.
Furthermore, they had used Anolis color-changing downlights on other projects and were always impressed with the results.
“River of Lights” required the perfect lighting effect; through testing and mock-ups, the team reviewed flood lights, lasers, theatrical lights, moving luminaires, etc., as they wanted to explore every option to replicate that sense of free-flowing movement of water cascading down the hill and along the pathways.
“We based the final choice of ArcDots on brightness, durability, size and the physical aesthetics of the fixtures,” confirmed Steven, adding that when illuminated, they are visible “for miles.”
Anchoring the lighting project into the overarching story and design concept was essential, so when it came to programming a signature look, they created a 30-minute show comprising five different movements, all representing segments of the water cycle.
The cycle naturally starts with rain. The pitter-patter of the droplets gives way to the rapid flow of rivulets down the hill; the third movement is a storm with thunder and lighting, which morphs into shimmering raindrops, then fuses into a calm and chilly mist across the plaza. This is followed by evaporation, leaving only small puddles and pools of water which constrict and then finally disappear.
The standard show is controlled via an ETC Mosaic controller. It fires up at dusk and runs until 10 pm each night, when the park closes and the programming concludes with a specially programmed “goodnight” look.
Visual Terrain also took full advantage of the ArcDots pixel-mapping capabilities, sourcing local artwork to be showcased through the system, and to add special occasions and holiday celebrations such as the July 4th, Halloween, Christmas, etc. as bespoke “feature shows,” as required.
The installation has been running for over a year now and the ArcDots have been rock solid reliable, and a big hit with the community.
The ArcDot installation was completed by electrical contractor Corey Hatch and his team with H&S Electric, who was also impressed with the support they received from both Lester Gomez at Linx Lighting & Energy controls (the local representative for Anolis) and Anolis, dealing directly with the factory in the Czech Republic, coordinated by Tal Janowitz at the Anolis North America office. The project was integrated by Digital Dots.
The ArcDot show was programmed by Visual Terrain’s Steeve Vajk, with Visual Terrain’s founder, Lisa Passamonte Green, as the principal in charge of the project and Steven Young the principal lighting designer.
The City of Santa Clarita’s project lead was architect Alan Stump, with a team including Cassidy Skelton, Carrie Lujan, and David Knutson, who as the City’s events administrator, coordinates events in the parks and creation of all the special shows with Visual Terrain.
Photo Credit: courtesy Robe Lighting Inc
