As local Bostonians and out-of-town tourists drift along South Boston’s historic waterfront,
they can catch a glimpse of what has become a local landmark—a 45 ft stainless steel
monster of a sculpture that tops the Legal Sea Foods headquarters. Massachusetts-based
sculptor David Tonnesen was asked to create the unique rooftop icon for the
corporation’s quality control center and corporate offices.“The sculpture I created was an
abstract cod fish, a traditional symbol of Massachusetts’ early maritime economic
development,” said Tonnesen.“It has eight wind interactive scale/sail-like rotors,which spin
in the winds creating sparkle and motion.The final sculpture is 45 ft long 28 ft tall and
weighs close to two tons.”
The fish’s 30 in. diameter eye changes color via five concealed COLOR KINETICS ColorBlast 12 units that are programmed and controlled with a combination of ColorPlay
authoring software and iPlayer 2.
The color changes represent varying wind speeds and sea conditions based on the Marine
Beaufort Scale, a system for estimating wind strengths without the use of
instruments.Tonnesen used a relay interface board with a custom designed interface to
translate an analog signal to a digital signal, which triggers the ColorBlast units.The
Beaufort Scale ranges from Force 0 (calm) to Force 12 (hurricane). For example,
when the eye is violet with one pulse of light, Force 1 is indicated and wind conditions are
calm, or 0-1.7 mph.When the eye is green with four pulses of yellow light, Force 4 is
indicated and wind conditions are moderate,or 12.1-18.9 mph.The eye reads up to Force 7
(28-33 knots or 31.7-38.5 mph).A roof-mounted anemometer provides the analog signal
which is digitized and classified by a custom circuit board and
the data is sent to the interface relay board,which triggers the different and appropriate color
shows that Tonnesen programmed into the iplayer2s memory. All electronics are located
just inside the building near the fish head.
The RGB LEDs of the colorblast panels needed to be blended onto to another surface to see
the mixed color,which also had to be visible in daylight.Tonnesen explained that he ordered
two polycarbonate blow molded 30 in. diameter outdoor street light globes,a white
translucent and a clear one to experiment with.
“The white globe reflected too much daylight and dimmed the output of light from
the LEDs,” said Tonnesen.“I lightly sanded the inside of a clear globe enough to mix
the RGB but still be as transparent as possible. Direct sunlight washes out most of
the color blended on the surface of the globe and one mostly sees the colors of the
hot spot created by one of the five panels.” At night, the orb glows bright and is visible
for miles over the harbor.
—John-Michael Kobes
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