Playful and dynamic lighting design at The Musicon Path in Roskilde, Denmark

Leading the way in urban transition is Roskilde Municipality with an aim to reduce car traffic between city areas and create a positive identity that stimulate health, living and growth in the Roskilde community. In this connection, the recently built pump track, along the Musicon Path in Roskilde’s new creative quarter, is designed to create an experience out of the ordinary for cyclists, skaters, and bystanders. The interactive lighting is designed to match the municipality’s desire to provide of a playful ride, to invite people to use the pump track and put it into play at night.

When the pump track is not in use the track is displayed as a sculpture in a cold white light. The interactive lighting theme is “a flow of water”. Hues of coloured light symbolize waves of water which responds to movements on the track. The waves create a tail of light that follows people as they move along the track. The faster they move, the longer the tail of light – thereby encouraging competition between the users, to see who can create the longest tail of light.

This playful lighting design is created by multicolour LED spotlights mounted on poles along the 90 m pump track. Every spotlight is controlled individually via signals generated by the lighting controller in real-time. The interactivity is created by use of compact sensors which are carefully integrated into the custom-made poles. The sensors are industrial 2D laser scanners, also known as LIDAR, which have been carefully selected according to accuracy, response time, and robustness. The sensors play a major part in the interactive lighting design as the installation must react rapidly and detect fast-moving users precisely, in order to achieve a functional and responsive design. Moreover, the integration of the sensors is important for the aesthetic appearance of the installation during daytime, making the ruby red poles stand out like an urban sculpture, as well protecting the sensors against vandalism.

There are several different dynamic light scenarios pre-programmed in the installation. The scenarios are easily activated by remote control and designed to correspond to local cultural events, e.g. an orange coloured scenario is used during The Roskilde Festival  -the largest music festival in Northern Europe.

This state-of-the-art lighting solution engages local users and improves their health, both physically and psychologically – especially during the dark winter season.

Awards

The Musicon path has won the LAMP awards 2019, Darc Awards 2019, Build Back Better GOLD Award 2021 and was Highly Commended at the Lighting Design Awards 2020.

The project was developed by Lighting Metropolis, funded by The European Regional Development Fund; a collaboration between Roskilde Municipality, Aalborg University Copenhagen, Ørsted City Light A/S,Simon Panduro and Light Bureau (former ÅF Lighting). The landscape contractor was Gottlieb A/S. The electrical contractor was Ørsted City Light A/S. The pump track contractor was Dirt Builders

• Client: Roskilde Municipality, Denmark
• Project: The Musicon Path
• Lighting Design: Simon Panduro & Light Bureau (Former ÅF Lighting)
• Additional Design: Dirt Builders, Denmark
• Lighting Suppliers: DTS Lighting, ETC, Milewide