A field of fluff
Thousands of thin optical fibers form dandelion fluff. When the wind blows, the fiber tips sway and light up; arranged across the lawn in large numbers, they become a field of dandelions.
Wind + light Selected Work
The Field of Seeds
Thousands of light dandelions return to the lawn where the Seed Cathedral once stood.
The Seed Cathedral was dismantled. The memory stayed in the ground.
The Seed Cathedral, Gone
With its concept and form, the UK Pavilion's Seed Cathedral became one of the most memorable images of Expo 2010 Shanghai, leaving a unique impression on the city. After the Expo closed, the pavilion was dismantled, and its site is now a lawn.
This project makes a small attempt on that patch of green—so the city's Expo memory can keep spreading.
The Site
The former Expo C zone is now Expo Culture Park—the only large green park in Shanghai's central urban area, still serving the city for rest and landscape.
The former UK Pavilion site lies between the Shanghai Italy Center (former Italy Pavilion) and the Rodin Art Center (former France Pavilion): a riverside artificial lawn with trees.
Design Highlights
Nature and future
Inheriting the Seed Cathedral's theme, technology presents the beauty of natural force, carrying environmental and sustainable ideas and remembering the Expo.
MemoryWalk in and light up
Beyond the wind, people can approach a dandelion and light it themselves.
PresenceThe Light Dandelion
Each light dandelion is a central white LED inside a 3D-printed porous core and a translucent shell. When lit, light passes through the porous core and lands on the shell, where the array of bright rectangular patches mimics dandelion seed heads.
Wind and Presence
The device uses an Arduino UNO board to control the lights.
When a “light dandelion” sways in the wind, the tilt sensor sends a signal and the “light dandelion” lights up; when a person approaches a “light dandelion”, the infrared sensor sends a signal and the “light dandelion” lights up.
The “light dandelions” are arranged in an array across the former UK Pavilion site. When the wind blows, the whole “dandelion field” flickers with the wind's rhythm; participants in the field can also strengthen their presence in the field through light.
Making
The prototype combines a 3D-printed porous core and translucent shell, a flexible metal stand and wire supports, felt, artificial turf, a foam base, white LEDs, an infrared sensor, a tilt sensor, an Arduino UNO, a breadboard and wires.
What this is
A small field of light where a pavilion once stood—keeping the city's Expo memory alive in its only central green park.
The Field of Seeds was made with Li Tinghao and Xu Xuanzhi for the Physical Media and Computing course.