Bremen, Germany's Weser Tower Features LED Installation from A&O

On December 7, the Chicago-based architect Helmut Jahn and Paris-based lighting artist Yann Kersalé pushed the switch that turned on the illuminations on the façade of the highest office block in Bremen, the 26'-tall Weser Tower. From their vantage point in the Weserburg museum, the pair had a magnificent view -- when the fog finally lifted -- of the illuminations marking the official opening of the Weser Tower in the heart of the Weser quarter of Bremen's Überseestadt district.

modern, ecologically sound building complex is Bremen's latest landmark and symbolizes the transparency and openness to the world of the Hanseatic city. The dynamic architecture of the 22-story building is crowned by a work by Kersalé entitled La Rivière Source. Since the dedication, the ripples of the Weser below have been echoed by the façade of the tower. The movement of the waves is captured by a camera and the digital data transferred by Internet to the computer controlling the 2,296' of LED strips that frame the glass façade of the tower. These mirror the movement of the waves, producing a blue, glimmering light-show that is triggered by the onset of darkness. It is a highly unusual illumination, unlike any currently to be seen in Bremen, and it draws the eye of the onlooker towards the Weser embankment.

The service provider, A&O Technology, was awarded the contract for the realization of the fixed installation on the outer façade of the Weser Tower back in 2009. Because of their quality, A&O opted for special, video-capable LED strips designed and manufactured in Germany. With a light intensity of 45,000mcd, the strips, which were specially designed for outdoor applications, combine a particularly high level of brightness with the low energy consumption typical of LED technology.