The Hive

2017
Design Development, Interaction & Activation Design, Programming, Installation
Client – amigo & amigo

Created by amigo & amigo in 2017, The Hive was a public activation displayed at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. The piece invited the public to walk amongst it, bringing it to life through reactive colour and animation.

In the development of the piece, I was provided the physical concept for the piece and asked to design an integrated proximity sensor system which allowed each ball to react to the number of audience members and their proximity to the piece. The system I designed and produced to achieve this took the form of a mesh network of ultrasonic distance sensors and custom lighting controllers. Each ball had a simple dedicated custom controller attached which connected it to the mesh of balls surround it and allowed it to control the RGB LED strip light integrated into the balls. This system allowed me to design and program a series of modes which transitioned the piece between interactive and passively animated states, providing the audience a combination of rewarding interactivity and mesmerising viewing.