Designed by San Francisco-based experimental design firm Future Cities Lab (FCL), Lightswarm is a stunning facade installation of 430 individual modules, employing sound sensors and LED lights to produce a spectacular light show in a state of perpetual flux. Responding to sounds gathered from the interior space and the surrounding urban environment, this site-specific artwork activates the south facing glass façade of YBCA’s Grand Lobby with playful patterns of light reminiscent of a swarm of flying birds.

During the day, filtered sunlight produces ever-changing flickers of light and shadow, while in the evening the façade is transformed into a dynamic electro-luminescent composition that activates the glass wall. Sound sensing “spiders,” attached directly to individual glass panels transform the façade into what the artists call “urban sensors—instruments to sense the city, visualize its auditory pulse, and amplify its latent energies into cascades of swarming light.” Real-time data collected from these audio transmitters drive the direction and color of the swarming algorithm, which generates patterns of streaming light.

The result is an artificially intelligent façade: a smart surface that can sense, compute, respond and interact with its surroundings. Lightswarm‘s unique suspended light modules individually change their intensity and color. Each module was created from 3D printed components, custom electronic elements, addressable LED strips, and laser-cut skins made out of recyclable PET plastic and synthetic paper.