The Duwamish Lighthouse

The Duwamish Lighthouse was decommissioned March 20, 2016. Named one of the Best Civic Tech Project in Seattle 2016 by Crosscut.

What an amazing opportunity. Thank you to the City of Seattle, Port of Seattle and Duwamish Revealed! Not to mention the many volunteers and fans of the project!

PROJECT VIDEO HERE

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

It was a beacon for a river, bringing visibility and presence to the Duwamish River so humans could better understand and develop a relationship with it through sculptural form and water quality data-driven lighting at night. 

Good views were from Jack Block Park the hour before sunset, downtown Seattle or docks and beaches near Salty's in West Seattle.

The sculpture appropriated the very industrial forms that in the past exploited the river. The form was open-ended, among some interpretations playing on control/rigidity vs freedom/flight, and human traditions of ever-changing style in light of unintentional beauty arising from efficiency only structures, industrial and/or organic.

At night, visible from anywhere on Elliot Bay, and specifically targeting downtown Seattle, the lighthouse signaled to the nexus of human stewardship and influence over the fate of the Duwamish River with light. Microcomputers and the artist worked together to monitor data from USGS, King County and City of Seattle, and the project's own environmental sensing unit to collect real-time water quality data, and check how clean the river was according to state water quality standards. Then this was transmitted wirelessly to the lighthouse to determine if it breathed on calm or erratic mode. The lighthouse then translated this data to humans in the form of our own breathing as light: Steady and relaxed was a cleaner river, fast and spasmodic was a polluted river. It was only on at night, signaling for several hours after sunset.

PRESS FOR THE DUWAMISH LIGHTHOUSE:

http://crosscut.com/2015/12/puget-sounds-best-civic-tech-efforts-in-2015/
http://www.wasla.org/2015-wasla-conference_session3c
https://wasla.memberclicks.net/august-2015---the-duwamish-lighthouse--interview-with-george-lee
http://artbeat.seattle.gov/2015/07/30/artists-interpret-the-duwamish-for-duwamish-revealed-a-summer-celebration-of-seattles-only-river/
http://westseattleblog.com/2015/08/duwamish-revealed-what-youll-see-along-the-river-tonight-tomorrow/
http://events.king5.com/PuPPy_November_11_Meeting_at_Twitter/323455576.html
https://green.uw.edu/sustainable-festival-2015/events/huskies-humanity