Step onto The Ice Floes and enter a luminous, arctic-inspired playground. Ten spring-mounted platforms respond to every movement with rippling sound and over 7,000 individually mapped RGB LEDs, creating a glowing, kinetic landscape. Leap, balance, and explore as your footsteps ripple across the installation, triggering crystalline tones and waves of color that evoke drifting ice, sudden snowstorms, and the dancing northern lights. Play becomes a fully immersive experience of light, motion, and sound.

On the outdoor deck of Aarhus Central Library and citizen service center (Dokk1), The Ice Floes transforms a playground into an immersive media architecture experience. Ten angular, spring-mounted platforms invite visitors to step, balance, and leap between them—each movement triggering a responsive choreography of light and sound. Beneath the platforms, a network of 10 speakers and more than 7,000 individually mapped RGB LEDs forms a continuous luminous layer across the installation. Real-time motion data from accelerometers in each platform drive both the evolving soundscape and the shifting light patterns. Movement on a platform sends crystalline tones and ripples of light across the surface, evoking the sensation of traversing drifting ice. At times, the atmosphere shifts into a sudden arctic storm; at others, waves of color sweep through like the aurora borealis. By day, The Ice Floes offers playful interaction for all ages, where movement triggers an evolving soundscape that responds to every step; by night, it becomes a glowing, kinetic landscape, transforming Dokk1’s waterfront terrace into a safe, inviting, and visually striking public space. Developed in collaboration between Lighting Aarhus, Aarhus Municipality, and CAVI, Aarhus University, the project explores how large-scale interactive light and sound can amplify urban play, extend activity into evening hours, and blur the boundaries between playground and media artwork.

https://cavi.au.dk/technologies/cases/ice-floes

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Details

Building or project owner : Aarhus Municipality, Denmark

Architecture : Monstrum

Project artist/ concept/ design/ planning : CAVI, Aarhus University

Structural engineering : https://monstrum.dk/en/playground/globe

Facade design : Monstrum and CAVI, Aarhus University

Facade construction : Monstrum

Light design : CAVI, Aarhus University

Technical layout light : CAVI, Aarhus University

Display content/ visuals/ showreel : CAVI, Aarhus University and Aarhus Municipality

Light hardware (LED hardware) : BTF-LIGHTING

Lighting control software : CAVI, Aarhus University

Project co-ordination : CAVI, Aarhus University

Interaction design/ programming : CAVI, Aarhus University

Project sponsor/ support : Salling Foundation

Pixel or other basic module/ elements : WS2815B-strips by BTF-LIGHTING

Descriptions

Facade type and geometry (structure) : The playground consists of 10 spring-mounted, wooden platforms, "Ice Floes", in quadrangular and triangular shapes, each with a speaker box underneath. LED strips are mounted in fixtures along the rim, facing downward. An accelerometer under each platform provides real-time motion data.

Kind of light creation : LED strips are mounted along the rim underneath each "Ice Floe". The LEDs face downward, creating an ambient light effect of floating structures. Light is controlled in the Unity game engine, incorporating motion sensor data. The dynamic lighting is closely integrated with the multichannel audio experience through custom Unity features and Sound-O-Matic – CAVI's in-house tool for designing large-scale interactive soundscapes. The accelerometers influence both light and sound, making the entire experience fully interactive.

Resolution and transmitting behaviour : 10 "Ice Floes" - spring mounted wooden structures - varying in size from approximately 1 m2 to 7 m2 with a total of 7,112 LEDs, approximately 49.5 m of LED strip. As the LEDs face downward, the light is reflected from the blue- and white-colored playground surface underneath the "Ice Floes". As the LED strips have a high pixel density of 144 LEDs per meter (7 mm) leading to a very evenly distributed light, the installation leaves a "supernatural" visual impression with little to no shadows cast by the springs or structure.

Pixel distance : LED strips with 144 LEDs/m (LED center distance of less than 7 mm)

Luminace : The LEDs provide a light output of maximum (white light) 1,710 mcd per LED; more than 12,000 cd in total over an area of 50–60 m2.

Urban situation : The installation is located on the outdoor deck of Dokk1, which serves as both a library and a citizen service center. During the day, the area is full of activity, with families, children, and visitors enjoying the harbor views. In the evening, when the building itself is closed, the playground continues to attract attention with its captivating light and sound, making the surrounding area feel more inviting and safer.

Description of showreel : Video 1: The Ice Floes. Drone footage of the installation at night, along with examples of playful interaction. Video 2: The Ice Floes – An introduction to the technology and design. This video presents the hardware and technology behind the installation, followed by an introduction to the design considerations related to the audio and visual content.

Participatory architecture & urban interaction

Community or communities involved : The Ice Floes project is carried out as a collaboration between "Lighting Aarhus" (Lys på Aarhus) at Aarhus Municipality and CAVI, Aarhus University. The purpose of "Lighting Aarhus" is to support work on street lighting throughout the city, fostering the development of sustainable and attractive cityscapes, streets, and squares that can shape and support urban life. The lighting projects of "Lighting Aarhus" also contribute to knowledge accumulation within the municipality. The funding comes from projected savings on regular street lighting, as a direct result of renovating the system to LED-based lighting.

Host organization : Aarhus Municipality, Denmark

Issues addressed : Because the sun sets so early in Denmark for a large part of the year, the long dark hours often limit outdoor play. Therefore, an installation like The Ice Floes is designed to prolong the opportunities for outdoor play and physical activity in an engaging manner.

Impact : The Ice Floes was tested in two conditions: without the digital elements (i.e., analogue) and with audio and LEDs. The test subjects were six girls and four boys in the analogue condition and five girls and five boys in the digital condition – the 20 children were in the first grade of primary school. A key finding is that the children in the analogue condition quickly lost interest in playing. In contrast, the children in the digital condition were more engaged in playing (Berg, Bertelsen, Holm, and Dyring, “The Effect of Digitization on Play in a Playground”, Aarhus University, 2023).

Tools developed : Mapping software that allows Unity to output real-time visuals for the LEDs. Software for capturing accelerometer data as input for Unity.

Tools used : Unity (game engine) Sound-O-Matic (CAVI's in-house tool for designing multichannel spatial audio soundscapes)

Mediacredits

Martin Schubert, https://www.martinschubert.dk/

Martin Schubert, https://www.martinschubert.dk/

Martin Schubert, https://www.martinschubert.dk/

Aarhus Municipality and CAVI, Aarhus University

Aarhus Municipality