Play with light and sound
A first for Australasia, the Antarctic Walkway is not just a functional piece of infrastructure to protect people from the weather but also an art installation, which reacts to your movement, speed and direction as you move through it.
Tip: the interaction happens both day and night, but you’ll get the full experience when it’s dark!
Antarctic Walkway – design rationale
The Antarctic Walkway follows an axis from Christchurch Airport to the International Antarctic Centre. It takes design cues from Antarctic pack ice and the Ellsworth Mountains.
Six frame modules make up the walkway, each with a different angle and height. These modules are stacked and flipped along the length of the walkway to create the superstructure from which the glass walls and roof attach. When read together the shifting angular forms give a rhythm that references the peaks and valleys of a mountain range.
Echoes – audio and lighting system
‘Echoes’ is an interactive experience which senses movement throughout the walkway and transfers it into sound and light. The speed and direction of the pulses is triggered by the visitor. Like ripples in the Southern Ocean, patterns form as multiple 'echoes' cross each other.
