Ice House Square Prince of Wales Dock, Swansea, UK

The Ice square forms a new central public realm in SA1 – Swansea’s Dockland regeneration area as well as a landing space for the Wilkinson Eyre pedestrian Bridge. The simple grid geometry of the square is accentuated with trees and is activated during night time by an lighting installation. The lighting installation is interactive through a grid of infrared movement sensors reacting to people’s movement. The sensors are designed to pick up the direction of their movement or enclose them in 'rooms of light' when stationary. When not trigged the installation pulses with wave of light flowing slowly across the square.

Technically the installation was implemented by Urban projects using adopted Phillips Colour kinetic LED luminaries operated by a Pharos control system. The installation in spite of its scale uses very little energy of 800W with an annual bill for electricity of £ 250 when operated from dusk to dawn. The Ice square and the artwork were commissioned as a part of a wider public art strategy by the Swansea council in partnership with the Welsh government.