Mapping New York’s Night Skies With The “Skylights: Dumbo” Pavilion

Architizer News

Mapping New York’s Night Skies With The “Skylights: Dumbo” Pavilion

October 9, 2012

Created as a part of the Dumbo Arts Festival, the “Skylights: Dumbo” pavilion is a site-specific sculpture situated in Brooklyn Bridge Park. The pavilion was initially conceptualized by NYU students Adrià Navarro López and Engin Ayaz as part of the final project for the Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) course Sculpting Data into Everyday Objects. The project sets out to address the “politics of light,” exploring the side effects of light pollution in urban settings. Read more!

Designed with programmatic constraints in mind, the organically shaped pavilion responds to the orientation, views, and shadow paths of the structure. Other factors including the location and even the perforations in the canopy helped to create a complete star map of New York for the evenings of September 28, 29, and 30, during the Dumbo Arts Festival.

Skylights:dumbo fabrication + construction + exhibition by Engin Ayaz

Expanding on the actual process behind the pavilion, the design team has explained, “By using the streetlight as the source for the star map, the project challenges the visitor to reconnect with the larger planetary scale, the stars that enshroud us.” The designers are currently looking for a longer-term exhibition location for their pavilion.