Description of project by Sergio Sebastián Franco
For Christmas 2016-17 in Preciados Street, Sergio Sebastián has designed a great urban clock that repeats to the sound of the chimes of the mythical Clock of the Puerta del Sol.
The tradition of the change of year in Spain is celebrated by taking twelve grapes, to the rhythm of the twelve strokes marked by the clock of Puerta del Sol. As a tribute to the century and a half that this symbol of Spanish Christmas fulfills, with each change of time the entire installation will pick up its echo, amplifying it in the form of beats of light along the whole Preciados street.
As is usual in the designs of this architect, there is a marked interest in redefining the urban space with its lighting installations. On this occasion, it is the busiest street in Spain during Christmas, with a markedly commercial character. Chimes builds an enveloping light atmosphere, which guides people from Plaza de Callao to Sol, in the manner of the old commercial passages.
Taking advantage of the length and slope of the street, it is played with the visual superposition of the arches, which vary in size from 1 to 20 meters in height, compressing and expanding the space below them, and which are programmed in different rhythmic lighting sequences. In this way, it seeks to eliminate the appearance of the endless perspective and instead produce a surprise effect of overlapping arcs, which seem to float on the same plane.
For this, is important to achieve an important intensity of light, with the difficulty of being a street very illuminated by shops. Thanks to the use of bright aluminum structural profiles, which duplicate the light effect of the LED cable, it has been possible for the farther arches to shine as well as those found in the nearby planes, with the same energy consumption. In addition, the profiles have a T-section that allows the pedestrian to be surprised again by illuminating in two opposite tones according to the direction in which the street is crossed, perceiving direct light in a tonality and the reflections in the facades of the street in the opposite tone.
