Santa Clarita's River of Lights Flow with AnolisRiver of Lights, the public light art installation created by Los Angeles-based Visual Terrain in Santa Clarita's Central Park, features 80 Anolis ArcDot pixel luminaires. The installation was designed to engage the public, energize ideas, and encourage reflection and environmental awareness through the concept of beautiful, ephemeral, flowing light, by telling the story of water flowing like a river, evaporating into the clouds, and storming down once more. Visual Terrain's team was led by principal designer Steven Young. The ArcDot pixel luminaires gently trace the pathway of the 172-step exercise stairs and lead to a plaza with additional lighting connecting the stairs to a new art piece between the park's soccer fields and parking lots. The project is a collaboration between Visual Terrain and the City of Santa Clarita, the Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency, and New York-based artist Sujin Lim. Lim created When Cloud Met a Cloud, an art piece that anchors the River of Lights at one end of the plaza, while a set of exercise stairs anchors it at the other end. The lighting installation also pays homage to the Los Angeles Aqueduct Cascades, a local water feature and landmark located in the nearby Newhall Pass, which connects the Santa Clarita Valley with the San Fernando Valley to the south. The Visual Terrain team took this inspiration as a starting point and produced a narrative-based lighting installation inspired by natural water cycles and the transformations involved. The team was challenged to find a luminaire that could both blend and animate a harmony of colors that shift with the hues and layered texturing of Santa Clarita's stunning sunsets, while creating flowing water movements and a shimmering "river of lights" effect. The lighting hardware specification required IP-rated, pixel-mappable, and highly dynamic luminaires, and after some extensive mock-ups and demonstrations, the Visual Terrain team chose ArcDots. Each ArcDot is mounted on a special 3'-high stanchion designed by Visual Terrain and the City, staggered in positioning and flanking the steps on the hill, with a 39/41 split of fixtures on each side. The entire installation is powered from electrical points concealed in the bushes around the hill. Through testing and mockups, the team reviewed floodlights, lasers, theatrical lights, moving luminaires, etc., exploring every option to replicate that sense of free-flowing movement of water cascading down the hill and along the pathways. "We based the final choice of ArcDots on brightness, durability, size and the physical aesthetics of the fixtures," says Young, adding that when illuminated, they are visible "for miles." A 30-minute show comprises five different movements, all representing segments of the water cycle. It starts with rain. The pitter-patter of the droplets gives way to the rapid flow of rivulets down the hill; the third movement is a storm with thunder and lightning, which morphs into shimmering raindrops, then fuses into a mist across the plaza. This is followed by evaporation, leaving only small puddles and pools of water, which constrict and then finally disappear. The standard show is run via an ETC Mosaic controller. It fires up at dusk and runs until 10pm each night, when the park closes, and the programming concludes with a specially programmed "goodnight" look. Visual Terrain also took full advantage of ArcDot's pixel-mapping capabilities, sourcing local artwork to be showcased through the system, and adding special occasions and holiday celebrations such as the Fourth of July, Halloween, and Christmas, as required. The ArcDot installation was completed by electrical contractor Corey Hatch and his team with H&S Electric, with support from Lester Gomez at Linx Lighting & Energy Controls (the local Anolis representative) and Anolis, dealing directly with the factory in the Czech Republic, coordinated by Tal Janowitz at the Anolis North America office. The project was integrated by Digital Dots. The ArcDot show was programmed by Visual Terrain's Steeve Vajk, with Visual Terrain's founder, Lisa Passamonte Green, as the principal in charge of the project, with Young as the principal lighting designer. The City of Santa Clarita's project lead was architect Alan Stump, with a team including Cassidy Skelton, Carrie Lujan, and David Knutson, who, as the City's events administrator, coordinates events in the parks and the creation of all the special shows with Visual Terrain. 
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