News
July 9, 2008
Convention Center's "Signature" Shimmer Wall Is In Place
The Raleigh Convention Center’s “signature” is in place and making a statement for all to see. The western wall is all aflutter. The mighty oak symbol that is the Cree Shimmer Wall is welcoming all not only to the new convention center but to downtown Raleigh.
CREE, Inc. gave $1 million to the City of Raleigh for the creation of contemporary artwork for the Raleigh Convention Center. Cree is a Durham-based innovator and manufacturer of semiconductors and devices that enhance the value of solid-state lighting, power and communications products and is a world leader in light emitting diodes (LED) technology.
Why A Shimmer Wall? (Click here for a photo of the completed wall )
There is no entrance to the Raleigh Convention Center from the western side. The wall houses the 500,000-square-foot facility’s chillers and boilers that require significant air flow. Yet the wall facing McDowell Street is the most visible as motorists enter downtown Raleigh. Some 20,000 vehicles arrive downtown via the thoroughfare each day. Even those not destined for the convention center city are offered downtown’s most inviting vista as they motor east and west along Western Boulevard.
The convention center’s design team of TVS, O’Brien Atkins and Clearscapes saw the wall as a canvas yearning for artwork that defined the essence of Raleigh.
“The design team wanted to do something that would add visually to downtown,” Clearscapes’ Stephen Shuster said.
In addition to the wall’s visibility, it also benefits from spectacular southern and western sunlight. So what would make maximum use of this visibility and light? A shimmer wall! Thought the design team; the ultimate coupling of these two natural elements.
“To gleam; to shine with an unsteady light; to glimmer” is the definition of shimmer. So how to make a wall do that? The design team, working with artistic inventor Ned Kahn, decided to put 79,464 4-inch by 4-inch aluminum pixels hinged on louvers to allow for free motion on 4-foot by 4-foot grids. The design is 211-feet by 44-feet. To aid nighttime “shimmering,” the design team decided to back light the 9,284-square-foot wall with 56 LED fixtures.
But not just a shimmer wall, the design team demanded. Rather a shimmer wall that offered an iconic image of our city. The oak tree, the design team exclaimed! The oak tree is the symbol borne on the Great Seal of the City of Raleigh. Raleigh’s unofficial tag line is – the “City of Oaks.” But also the oak tree for so many more reasons.
“We wanted an image that could be understood and appreciated by all – children and techies,” Mr. Shuster said. “A tree is a complex system. It symbolizes growth. It symbolizes the environment.”
At rest, the almost 80,000 4-inch by 4-inch pixels will offer a clear depiction of a mighty oak in shades of silver. And yet this oak tree will be ever changing. The flow from the boilers and chillers; the natural breeze, the whoosh of the stream of cars along McDowell Street will keep the image at flux. As will the shifting slant of sun rays. Adding further to the uniqueness of the Cree Shimmer Wall will be the back lighting from Cree’s LEDs. And the LED colors will vary, depending on the season, the celebration – whenever and whatever!
“The Cree Shimmer Wall will never be the same twice,” Mr. Shuster promises. “And it will be magnificent when viewed by motorists.”
Mr. Shuster said that this approach to a shimmer wall is unique in that it is the first used as an integrated architectural element.
So will such a marvel be a maintenance menace? “Not at all,” the Raleigh architect said. The aluminum pixels are anodized so that the color will not wear and it will never need painting. In addition to their meager use of energy, the LEDs have a lifespan of 15 years.
The Raleigh Convention Center will celebrate its grand opening Sept. 5-6 as part of Raleigh Wide Open 3. For complete information on the project and the grand opening, visit www.rccproject.com or www.raleighconvention.com or call the Raleigh Convention Center staff at 831-6011.
Prepared by:
Jayne Kirkpatrick
Director
Public Affairs Department
For More Information Contact:
Roger Krupa
Director
Convention and Conference Center Department
500 Fayetteville St. Mall
Raleigh, NC 27601
919-831-6011
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