Paul Nulty’s Flock of Birds installed in Crawley Mall shopping centre
(UK) – Paul Nulty Lighting Design (PNLD) has developed a lighting design concept entitled Flock of Birds, bringing art and light to Crawley Mall shopping centre and creating a grand sculpture within the impressive space.
Paying homage to the old English translation of the Crawley name, clearing frequented by crows, and acknowledging the centre’s proximity to Gatwick, PNLD wanted the sculpture to portray the theme of light.
Flock of Birds captures the form and elegance of airborne birds using colour changing LEDs that add a wash of vibrancy to the sculpture, creating different glowing intensity throughout the day and across the seasons. The sculpture measures 125-metres long and draws the eye through the length and breadth of the flight path that meanders through the void. There are sixteen million permeations of colour across 400 individual LED birds.
The challenge for PNLD was to deliver an experience without creating a distraction from the retail brands inside the shopping centre, while still being low energy and delivering low maintenance costs. To deliver these requirements, PNLD used 30W LEDs. As a result, the sculpture requires the same amount of energy as ten kettles and can last up to 100,000 hours.