Forests of Wind

Edwin Cheong
Designed for Site #2 in Abu Dhabi, between Saadiyat Island and Yas Island.

Design Submission for the 2010 Land Art Generator Initiative Design Competition

Artist’s descriptive text:
The idea of the landart proposal was to experiment with the poetry of making visible the unseen / uncommonly seen occurences.

To be able to “see” wind by day via the windmill kinetic movement.
To be able to “see” wind by night via the lighted spinning cups.
To be able to “see a dense forest” of “trees” in a desert climate.
To be able to “see sand dunes” on a relatively flat relief site.

The landart attempts to “de-materialise” the dune to create possible event spaces during the day and night. During the day, light canvases can be creatively stretch across its lateral tie cables to form shades while during the night, the public will experience being clothed under a “blanket of glittering stars.”

See www.flickr.com/photos/carlerfur/ for this and other videos of the artist’s work, including some constructed variations on similar theme

The “Forest of Wind” LandArt is proposed to be located at Site2 Abu Dhabi. The site is able to accommodate up to 8 modules, each being able to be added in phases. Each module measures around 198x198m and is arranged linear along the water edge. Each module have a density range of
1089 to 4356 “trees”.

Wind speed as little as 3.8m/s is able to charge the turbine. a wind speed of 8m/s is able to produce 414w of energy on each 48v load of windmill “tree”. While the LED will only need 14w at nightfall. The rest of the 400w will be distributed to the grid.

With each tree being able to produce up to 414w (from 8km/s wind), each module will be capable of producing 1.8mw of energy. The maximum 8 modules in the site will be able to produce 14.4mw to support some 8,000 households while glittering beautifully on the site like dunes of stars.

The mills of the “trees” rotates easily on windy days to turn the Permenant Magnet Alternator (PMA) Dynamo located at the shaft. During the day, the goldish brass convex surface of the cups provide a glittering effect to the whole “forest” as they spin. During the night, the cups’ concave surfaces containing low energy LED periodically “charges” the highly bright industrial strength Super Phosphorescent Paint (SPP), thereby giving the “starry sparkles” for the de-materialized dune. The already negligible energy spent on the LEDs is further reduced by the use of SPP.

The creative energy effiecient lighting combo of LED+ super phosphorescent paint works this way –
Super Phosphorescent Paint has an extremely bright glow in the dark paint. It is 5 times brighter than the popular green zinc-based glow in the dark products available in most department stores. Technically, it will continue to glow for days. After a 10 minute charge from 1000lx. It will have a glow of approximately 1000mcd/m2 for the next 10min. Therefore, in working with a led by alternating every 10 minutes, the landart not only saves on energy but has a pleasant light “change” display quality.

PHASES + “UPGRADABILITY”
+ The 8 modules of Landart can be implemented in phases.
+ The Permenant Magnet Alternator inside accessible shaft for servicing and future “upgrades” of more efficient alternators.

low-res version PDF of submitted boards