The renovation of Kleiburg is now almost completed: most of the inhabitants have moved in their 500 customized units. One particular detail has a special connotation.
Gallery illumination has a tendency to be very dominant in the perception of apartment buildings with single loaded access. The intensity of the lamps that light up the front doors on the open-air corridors overrules the glow of the individual units. The warm ‘bernstein’ radiance of the apartments is obscured behind by a screen of cold lights.
Taking the repetition of the light bulbs as a starting point we explored the possibilities of animation. Mid nineties we made a collage called Digital Graffiti. The idea was to connect gallery lights to a computer so that text messages could be sent that would be displayed on the facade: the entire building would become a supersized interactive bulletin board. And what if all gallery lights worked with energy saving motion detectors? Every passer-by a shooting star!
The Digital Graffiti Mash-up was based on a photograph by Willem Haakma Wagenaar that was actually shot from the ninth floor of Kleiburg. The idea came up while residing in what is now called De Flat. A beautiful coincidence: after an incubation period of 20 years the infrared detectors are now in action right where they were conceived…
Photo: Marcel van der Burg
NL Architects Blog 
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