Nimbus

Situated at the intersection of Nicolett Street and the Central Library Atrium in Minneapolis is Nimbus, a captivating sculpture commissioned by the City to create an integrated work of art, urban design, and performance space as a key component of the Nicollet Mall renovation project.

The sculpture’s creator, Tristan Al-Haddad of Formations Studio envisioned the piece to “flood the street at night with a halo of light, creating a glow and uncanny ambiance.” He worked with Adam Rixey of SESCO Lighting to achieve this vision in January 2019.

Color Kinetics luminaires met the unique need of this project for a very small fixture body that would mount around a curved surface and create animated movement as part of a seamlessly integrated lighting system. Color Kinetics iColor Flex LMX gen2 with a Narrow Beam Lens (now specified with Flex Compact gen3, RGB) was the only product that would mount and project enough lumens as desired in the internal curved surface. The fixtures - 650 nodes with 102 mm (4 in) On-Center Node Spacing - were mounted behind a removable, perforated steel panel along the top and bottom edges.

“Tristan Al-Haddad of Formations Studio needed an outdoor-rated, low-profile, color-changing fixture that could be mounted inside their large Nimbus outdoor art structure. We considered one-foot linear fixtures, which proved to be too long to mount on the curved surface. The Flex LMX with the narrow beam lens provided the flexibility to mount and deliver enough lumens for this Minneapolis art attraction.” – Adam Rixey, SESCO Lighting