Project Jewel Light Shows
Visual development and content created for Jewel shows between 2015 and 2020
I made the 1 minute clip above to highlight my process for developing a visual language and creating content for the evening shows at Jewel in the Changi Airport in Singapore over 5 years. Like Hadrian’s Pantheon, which creates a portal for light to enter space in a theatrical way, the shows at Jewel dramatize and respond to the elements. The shows reference structures like Brunelleschi’s Duomo and Trajan’s column, telling a story from all directions at once. They also recall architect Toyo Ito’s project “Tower of Winds,” using projected light to connect an abstract, semiotic understanding of dense urban space with the physical.
This project was produced by WET Design in Los Angeles. Thanks to everyone at WET Design and Mark Fuller for facilitating this level of creative exploration, Jim Doyle for his creative genius, Jaron Lubin and Charu Kokate of Safdie Architects, Ashith Alva and Changi Airport team for their encouragement and trust.
I made the 1 minute clip above to highlight my process for developing a visual language and creating content for the evening shows at Jewel in the Changi Airport in Singapore over 5 years. Like Hadrian’s Pantheon, which creates a portal for light to enter space in a theatrical way, the shows at Jewel dramatize and respond to the elements. The shows reference structures like Brunelleschi’s Duomo and Trajan’s column, telling a story from all directions at once. They also recall architect Toyo Ito’s project “Tower of Winds,” using projected light to connect an abstract, semiotic understanding of dense urban space with the physical.
This project was produced by WET Design in Los Angeles. Thanks to everyone at WET Design and Mark Fuller for facilitating this level of creative exploration, Jim Doyle for his creative genius, Jaron Lubin and Charu Kokate of Safdie Architects, Ashith Alva and Changi Airport team for their encouragement and trust.
National Geographic Spotlight
Interview on NatGeo TV about light shows (aired in 2020)
On-Site Work
Looking at my content from the 5th floor of the Jewel building. Each vantage point was carefully considered when designing shows.
Running tests late at night before opening with Tim Hunter and Ting Zhang. In this case we're exploring audio feedback.
Water works like a rear projection surface, carrying projection
Getting my flower patterns aligned across 12 projectors.
Observing my content from one of the pedestrian bridges across the "Forest Valley."
Some of my most successful content is bold and big with clear movement.
Working on my opening shows in the Forest Valley and observing the dynamics of the space.
Chatting with Charu Kokate, Peter Kopik, Ting Zhang and Lachlan Turczan about my choreography.
The Jewel Building is a remarkable space with the water turned off. Filled with a marvelous rainforest and enclosed in a massive glass atrium.
Chatting with Tim Hunter, Ting Zhang and Lachlan Turczan about my choreography.
Process
A short montage of my choreography work from three different shows.
Still frames & storyboards
Still frame from my animation content. This is from the show "Arrival" about the Sun being stolen and then returned to its place in the sky. These flowing forces duel to control the light.
Still frame from my animation content. This is from the show "Arrival" about the Sun being stolen and then returned to its place in the sky.
Still frame from my animation content. This is from the show "Arrival" about the Sun being stolen and then returned to its place in the sky.
Frames from my animation content juxtaposed with photographs from the real space. You can see how the 2 dimensional imagery is extruded into massive volumetric light sculptures in the Jewel atrium.
Still frame from my animation content where I'm playing with the shape of the atrium distorted by the acceleration of the water as it falls from the ceiling.
Storyboards from a musical show that I made for Spring 2020. This show utilizes light and fog to fill the space. There are some moments where the water trickles to a stop and the projection is carried by fog only.
Storyboards from a musical show that I made for Spring 2020. This show utilizes light and fog to fill the space. There are some moments where the water trickles to a stop and the projection is carried by fog only.
Storyboards from a musical show that I made for Spring 2020. This show utilizes light and fog to fill the space. There are some moments where the water trickles to a stop and the projection is carried by fog only.
Still frame from my animation content. This is from the show "Arrival" which is about the Sun being extinguished and then returned to its place in the sky. On the left you can see a fabric mockup of the Jewel waterfall I made to test out ideas using 5 ultra short throw Epson projectors and a smoke machine.
Frames from my animation content juxtaposed with photographs from the real space. You can see how the 2 dimensional imagery is extruded into massive volumetric light sculptures in the Jewel atrium.
Still frame from my animation content. This is from the show "Arrival" about the Sun being stolen and returned. These circular patterns sweep across the waterfall.
Still frame from my animation content. This is from the show "Arrival" about the Sun being stolen and then returned to its place in the sky.
Prototype & Mockup
A short sample of my choreography, animatic, storyboard, and live test footage for development.
Some of my early content test. The cylindrical shape of the waterfall impacts the content design: a 2D horizontal line projected through a cylinder becomes a 3D circle in space.
Some of my early content tests. Choreographable fog extrudes 2D projected imagery into 3D volumes.
Testing my content in Los Angeles at WET Design with the help of Mockup team. The Jewel water feature falls through the ceiling of a 7 story glass building, so the natural light of the sky factors into the projection design.
Understanding the dynamics of water and light is critical. One of many mockups in Los Angeles completed to understand the impact of water flow/volume on projected content.
I work in 3D and 2D animation software to design the content. There are 5 projection sources surrounding the Jewel water feature and 10 projectors total. Digital simulation was essential to the show design process.
Jewel’s weir (the edge from which the water falls) was carefull engineered by WET Design to produce two distinct “flow” modes that carry projected light in unique ways.
The distance water falls impacts factors like density and velocity, so we organized some mockups at full scale to test the way projected content would work on site.
This is a still from one of many mockups that shows the projected content on the left, and a photograph of the content projected through water and mist on the right. The water extrudes the 2D image into a 3D volume. Furthermore, the wind and mist abstract the image in a painterly way. A projector is designed to focus light in a relatively shallow plane, but when the light carries through a large volume of mist, you get beautiful mix of blurry and crisp imagery.
This is a still from one of many mockups that shows the projected content on the left, and a photograph of the content projected through water and mist on the right. The water extrudes the 2D image into a 3D volume. Furthermore, the wind and mist abstract the image in a painterly way. A projector is designed to focus light in a relatively shallow plane, but when the light carries through a large volume of mist, you get beautiful mix of blurry and crisp imagery.
Experiments
Scale mockups in Los Angeles leading up to the opening
This is my visual love letter to the track “Systems Layers” by Rachel’s. It is meditative to physically be in the same room as the water falling. The water moves constantly while the projection appears to hover quietly, drift gently. You can feel the spray of the droplets. The visual patterns speak to the shape of the Jewel building truss, and their movement plays with the way strings in a piano are struck by the keys.
The track is “Family Portrait” by Rachel’s from the album “Music for Egon Schiele.” This is one of my earliest tests that explores the way 2D images become volumetric when projected onto volumes. A horizontal line projected through a cylinder becomes a circle in space.
This is a recording of some content I created based on the “Systems Layers” content, but for a larger mockup approximating the actual scale of the water feature. The way the water carries light changes based on the distance it is falling and the flow of the water. The weir (the edge of the waterfall) was designed to produce two different choreographable flow types: heavy and light. You can also see the choreographable fog here that brings a extra, wonderful volumetric quality to the projection. I feel the combination of water, light, wind and the elements produces an abstract expressionist, paint-like quality to the experience.
