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Light artist Daan Roosegaarde gives 85-year-old Dutch dike a futuristic upgrade

2018-01-03T14:55:00-05:00

For the legendary, 32-km Afsluitsdijk dike's 85th birthday, the Dutch government commissioned creative designer and innovator Daan Roosegaarde to spruce things up and transform the famous Dutch causeway into something more than a flood protector and road link. Built in 1932 as part of the Netherlands' famed sea defenses, the dyke is one of the country's landmark engineering projects.

For Icoon Afsluitsdijk, as the initiative is called, Roosegaarde wanted to "enhance the innovative character of the legendary 32 kilometer Dutch dyke whilst highlighting its key functions: water protection & heritage, energy and mobility as an exemplary model of a smart landscape for today and tomorrow." Given a €13 million budget, Roosegaarde has turned the monumental site into a beautiful and sustainable art installation with three separate projects that celebrate the historical site and inspire the country towards an innovative future.

'Gates Of Light’ by Daan Roosegaarde

'Gates Of Light’ by Daan Roo...

A smog-cleaning bike, a kite-charging dike: Studio Roosegaarde's creative design solutions to infrastructural challenges

2017-08-22T15:03:00-04:00

In the unofficial category of "Creative Pollution Solutions," the Dutch firm Studio Roosegaarde is angling to be the winner: the firm has several projects that introduce innovative solutions to existing infrastructural challenges. First up, in partnership with bike-sharing firm OFO, the studio has announced to develop a bicycle that "inhales" smog and then releases purified air by virute of pedaling.

The project, which was initially announced at a TED forum, has now advanced to the first stage of design. The bikes, which release clean air around each cyclist as they are pedaled, are not only environmentally friendly but culturally attuned: Daan Roosegaarde wanted to reference the iconicity of the bicycle in China while simultaneously improving air quality.

In addition to the bicycles, Studio Roosegaarde has also undertaken the redevelopment of the Icoon Afsluitdijk. As the architects explain: "It is the government-scale landscape innovation project on the legendary Dutch dike, whic...

Dune X exhibition at the 18th Biennale of Sydney

2012-07-17T11:35:00-04:00

Constructed on Sydney’s Harbour’s Cockatoo Island, the interactive 42 meter-long landscape installation, entitled Dune, is composed of hundreds of fibres that brighten according to human sounds in what Roosegaarde describes as “techno-poetry”.

Dune X is an interactive landscape of light for the 18th Biennale of Sydney that visibly reacts to the behavior of people that come into close proximity. Hundreds of sensors detect motion, and optical fibers dim and brighten in response to the movements of people passing by.

Dune X is being exhibited at the dark Dogleg tunnels on Cockatoo Island in Sydney. For those unable to visit, Studio Roosegaarde made a video, especially for the Biennale of Sydney, that is supposed to give an impression of what to expect with 'Dune X'. The movie (below) resembles a real-life ‘Alice in techno-land' and is displayed all around Sydney during the Biennale.

Studio Roosegaarde (Rotterdam-The Netherlands) is the social design lab of artist and architect Daan Roosegaarde. By creating interactive designs that instinctively respond to sound and movement, Roosegaarde explores the dawn of a new nature that is evolving from technological innovations. The studio is well known for its awarded interactiv...