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THE ARTWORK
THE ARTWORK
Prismatica
by RAW Design is an interactive artwork that invites you to enter an urban kaleidoscope.
Its iridescent prisms shimmer in daylight and illuminate from within at night, creating dynamic color reflections that are visible throughout the day.
Its iridescent prisms shimmer in daylight and illuminate from within at night, creating dynamic color reflections that are visible throughout the day.
Spin the prisms to activate their chimes and to transform the public space into a real living tableau of dancing colours and patterns.
Spin the prisms to activate their chimes and to transform the public space into a real living tableau of dancing colours and patterns.
THE artists
THE artists
RAW is a Toronto-based architecture firm that works on a wide variety of scales and project types.
From community greenhouses to large residential developments and outdoor interactive installations, its medium-sized team of architects and designers takes a collaborative, multidisciplinary approach to deliver creative responses to design problems.
For Prismatica, the firm assembled a team of professionals from several fields (applied science, technology, art and architecture).
Creative Intent
Creative Intent
DID YOU KNOW?
The word "kaleidoscope" comes from the Greek words kalos which means "beautiful", eidos which means "image" and skopein which means "to look".
The kaleidoscope is an optical toy invented in the early 19th century. It consists of a tube containing mirrors and colored fragments or small objects which, when rotated, create symmetrical and ever-changing geometric patterns.
The functioning of the kaleidoscope relies on a play of light. As light enters the tube, it enables the infinite reflection of the colorful objects moving inside the kaleidoscope.
Inside, several mirrors face one another and reflect the light back and forth, creating the illusion of infinite patterns.
View through a kaleidoscope
RAW’s initial idea for Prismatica was to create an urban kaleidoscope.
Indeed, Prismatica brings light and its extraordinary properties down to the human scale, designed with the idea of creating a playful and whimsical environment inspired by natural properties where the public can experience a sense of wonder.
Artistic Approach
Artistic Approach
By imagining rotating prisms that light up both in daylight and at night, RAW chose to use dichroic filters to cover the prism surfaces.
During the day, the iridescence of the dichroic material interacts with ambient light and your viewing angle to reveal different colors of the rainbow.
At night, spotlights illuminate the prisms from within, making their colors even more vibrant.
DID YOU KNOW?
Iridescence is a phenomenon in which certain surfaces appear to change color depending on the angle of view or light, creating a rainbow-like play of colors. The word “iridescence” comes from the Greek goddess of the rainbow, Iris.
Dichroic filter under different angles, reflecting different colors.
A dichroic filter is a type of optical filter that reflects certain wavelengths of light (specific colors) while allowing others to pass through.
Unlike a traditional filter, which absorbs part of the light, the dichroic filter separates colors through refraction and reflection, creating iridescent and shifting effects depending on the viewing angle or light source.
DID YOU KNOW?
In sunlight, dichroic filters offer a constantly evolving chromatic spectacle, playing with the time of day and weather conditions.
With Prismatica, the result is the installation’s interactive dimension where the colors shift with the movement of the prisms and the position of the viewer!
Architect Pierre-Alexandre Le Lay of RAW Design reveals that the team behind Prismatica was drawn to the idea of the kaleidoscope because it allowed them “to let the public manipulate light, color, and transparency.”