Against this backdrop, architects, landscape designers and urban planners have long valued the modular and systematically structured solutions that are the speciality of BURRI. Our many years of expertise were recently called upon once again for an unusual custom project. The end result is anything but a serial product: a uniquely sculptural light object designed by Swiss artist Pipilotti Rist for Zurich’s Heimplatz square. Rist works with a variety of media, formats and materials and is one of the most internationally renowned artists of her generation. BURRI was proud to be among the companies invited to make a significant contribution to the realisation of Rist’s work “Touching Lights”.
The task in this case was to lend an organic curve to a 14.5 meter-long and 16 mm thick longitudinally welded tube. Formally, the sculpture resembles an oversized flower: The steel tube is the stalk, which supports an abstract flower head integrated with controllable LED spotlights. Under the project management of lighting designer Kaori Kuwabara, the Atelier Rist studio has developed an object that, through its unique shape and colourfulness, draws attention to this vital cultural location for the city of Zurich.
Photos 1, 8, 12: Juliet Haller / Zurich Office of Urban Planning
