The “Threshold” creates a luminous and ephemeral landmark that elucidates the site's restored ecology.
LUMINOUS THRESHOLD
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
2000
BackImages
VISITORS TO THE OLYMPIC PARK TRAVERSING THE LUMINOUS THRESHOLD
AERIAL VIEW OF THE LUMINOUS THRESHOLD
VIEW ALONG THE MASTS
DETAIL OF THE MISTING SYSTEM
MIST AND REFLECTED BEAM OF LIGHT
INSTALLATION OF THE GIMBALLED HELIOSTAT REFLECTOR
SECTION DIAGRAM
Description
The Luminous Threshold was designed to define the entry gateway into the Olympic Complex in Homebush Bay. This suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia was reclaimed from industrial use for the 2000 Summer Olympic Games.
Five misting masts produce mist intersected by a constant beam of sunlight reflected by a computer controlled, gimballed mirror.
By focusing on the ordering and changing nature of light as it intersects mist, the artwork creates a luminous and ephemeral landmark that elucidates the cyclical nature of water evaporation and condensation in the atmosphere and the phenomena of light interfering with those water particles to create such effects as rainbows and other atmospheric phenomena. The “Luminous Threshold” manifests the transformation from industrial landscape into Olympic Park.
Client: Olympic Coordination Authority
Architect: Hargreaves Associates
Engineer: Wilde & Woolard Pacific