Light balls

Concept

Initiative
visibility and identity of the urban interchange King Abdullah Road in Riyadh
Architecture
a forest of Light Balls, elegant trunks carry beautiful crowns
Technology
Light Balls as tree tops with an inner branching – optimized in their calculation so that the inner light illuminates the entire Light Ball

Solution

Kkr K1 Construction

A motorway junction as a statement

During the night the Light Balls are illuminated via photovoltaic, during the course of the night they dim down in a natural way until the light is gone. We conceptualized the proportions of the lightballs according to the golden ratio, the most harmonious numerical ratio which was developed over thousands of years.

This causes perfectly balanced and aesthetically pleasing proportions. During the day, the Light Balls appear as high-gloss and smooth surfaces.

Without having a certain height, the Light Balls will look clumsy, dull and somehow crude. We have now managed to find a perfect solution regarding the structure, the weight, the thermal conditions, the bending, the lighting direction … reducing the heights would ruin this correlations.

The trunk of the Light Ball follows structural necessities, in it's filigree character it is decomposed in singular elements to visualize the flux of forces.

Info

Category Landmark
City Riyadh
Commissioner Arriyadh Development Authority ADA
Period 2012–2016
Type direct
Status built
Team

Georg Driendl, Franz Driendl

Technical

building physics: Dipl. Ing. Dr. Roland Müller
landscape architecture: Bödeker Partners Landscape Architects
structural analysis: Werkraum Ingenieure ZT-GmbH

Details

42 Light Balls
Glas/steelconstruction

Copyright driendl*architects ZT GmbH

Plans

Riad Kreuzung Li P02 Copy Neu

Media