BuildBackBetter

The Musicon Path Light Bureau and Simon Panduro

Interactive lighting is designed to create an experience out of the ordinary for cyclists and skaters at a pump track in Denmark.

Leading the way in urban transition is Roskilde Municipality in Denmark with an aim to reduce car traffic between city areas and create a positive identity that stimulate health, living and growth in the Roskilde community. 

In this connection, the built pump track, along the Musicon Path in Roskilde’s creative quarter, is designed to create an experience out of the ordinary for cyclists, skaters, and bystanders. 

The interactive lighting is designed to match the municipality’s desire to provide of a playful ride, to invite people to use the pump track and put it into play at night.

The interactive lighting theme is ‘a flow of water’. Hues of coloured light symbolise waves of water which responds to movements on the track. 

The waves create a tail of light that follows people as they move along the track. 

The faster they move, the longer the tail of light – thereby encouraging competition between the users, to see who can create the longest tail of light.

The playful lighting design is created by multicolour LED spotlights mounted on poles along the 90 m pump track. 

Every spotlight is controlled individually via signals generated by the lighting controller in real-time. 

The interactivity is created by use of compact sensors which are carefully integrated into the custom-made poles. 

The sensors are industrial 2D laser scanners (LIDAR), which have been carefully selected according to accuracy, response time, and robustness.

The sensors play a major part in the interactive lighting design as the installation must react rapidly and detect fast-moving users precisely, to achieve a functional and responsive design. 

At the same time, the integration of the sensors was important for the aesthetic appearance of the installation during daytime, making the ruby red poles stand out, as well protecting the sensors against vandalism. 

When the pump track is not in use the track is displayed as an urban sculpture in a cold white light, with an aim to visually enrich the area for the people who live there.

Truly liveable cities should be shaped and constructed in a way that respects and supports common human needs with good infrastructure, clean air, limited industrial noise, green areas and urban design that invites people to exercise in a safe environment. 

This lighting solution was designed specifically to engage local users and improve their health, both physically and psychologically.

Judges called it a brilliant use of technology in the public realm.