Image courtesy of NOMA

Cundall adorns NOMA earth tubes

NOMA – standing for North Manchester – is a £800, 20 acre mixed-use redevelopment project by the co-operative group, in partnership with Hermes Investment Management and with support by the european regional development fund. The massive effort includes the creation of 4.000.000 of office, residential, retail, and leisure space. Multi-disciplinary consultancy Cundall, won a contest to beautify three centrally located concrete and aluminum fin “earth tubes“, which supply fresh air to the co-operative group office.

Image courtesy of NOMA

Following the growing trend of lighting installations in the public sphere, Cundall was asked to deliver an interactive, ever-changing light installation. Rather than a static display, or one with a limited range of animations, the NOMA “earth tubes” were designed to evolve, and are capable of translating community-made content – provided by schools and students, artists in residence, and data from a specially created app – into dynamic light compositions.

Image courtesy of NOMA

Studiotech, using OSRAM lighting components, worked non-stop over a period of three months to complete the project. the “earth tubes” installation totals 28.440 individual lights, or 9.480 light filled tubes. A total of 14km of cable was used to provide power and data to the “earth tubes“, and as far is energy is concerned each runs on 15amps.

more. www.noma-manchester.com