Client

University of Cologne and University Hospital Cologne, with the kind support of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the federal government, represented by: medfacilities GmbH

Architecture
gmp – Architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners

Art
Yoshiyuki Miura

Photos
Jürgen Schmidt
DAY & LIGHT

Completion
2011

Project Team DAY & LIGHT
Frank Vetter

„Cells“ – Constantly in motion and only in a combined group, they form the shape recognisable to us. However, the ideal form does not occur in nature. It is only through movement on our path through space that the form is understood. But as soon as the object appears transparent to us, the recognisability of the third dimension disappears.“

This is what is written on the board to title the light art installation in the passageway of the so-called "Student Way" through the new research laboratory building, the Cluster of Excellence CECAD (Cellular Stress Responses in Aging-Associated Diseases) at the University Hospital and University of Cologne. However, neither this description nor photographs can truly convey the spatial effect and the impact of the light on the objects. Only by seeing it in three dimensions, combined with movement, does a luminous, seemingly floating sphere appear to the viewer in the space.

This installation of light and object in space is the result of an open competition for light art, which the University of Cologne and University Hospital Cologne, together with medfacilities GmbH, launched in May 2011. Professor Dr.-Ing. h.c. Marg from gmp Architekten von Gerkan Marg und Partner, the architects of the new building, introduced the factor of „light“ in connection with art and architecture as a significant accent for the "art on building" tender – particularly because the intended position of the installation was the most important junction and, at the same time, the area with the least daylight. It is precisely at this point that the campus-spanning pedestrian student walkway passes through the new building, simultaneously connecting the divided foyer. The clients aimed to create an identity-defining and attractive landmark by launching the competition.

The sculptor Yoshiyuki Miura, in collaboration with DAY & LIGHT, won the national art competition and saw their design through to the building’s completion.

The lighting design relates to the large-scale building passage as well as to the two parts of the entrance hall, and manages to maintain the transparency of the foyer glazing through intense wall illumination, thus making the divided space experienceable as a whole.

The immense metal sculptures are focal points, highlights, visible from both outside and inside, forming central, connecting elements. Each of the three objects consists of 1,024 stainless steel rods, which together form a cube with two-metre edges. The rods are painted yellow and orange, inspired by the colours of a sunset, in such a way that a sphere is depicted within each cube. The objects represent both simplicity and precision, as well as an intense three-dimensional effect, typical of the sculptor Miura's work. The connection with light intensifies this, making the objects shine and connecting them with the space. The LED spotlights, specially made for the object, were arranged above the supporting grid structure after precise calculation. Through the narrow-beam and precisely glare-free light optics, they illuminate the coloured sphere and cast a pool of light onto the floor like a sunbeam. Especially in conjunction with wind, which makes the metal rods vibrate, a subtle play of shadows is created.