Take a walk through the sounds of Antarctica - in Christchurch
Christchurch Airport’s Antarctic Walkway is far more than a piece of functional infrastructure designed to protect travellers from the weather. It’s also a fun, interactive art installation which reacts to movement as visitors walk through it.
Entitled “Echoes”, the installation transfers movement into light and sound. The speed and direction of the pulses is triggered by the visitor. Like ripples in the Southern Ocean, patterns form as multiple “echoes” cross each other.
Christchurch Airport’s Antarctic Walkway “Echoes.”
Six frame modules make up the walkway - which runs from the terminal to the bus hub - each with a different angle and height. These modules are stacked and flipped along its length to create the superstructure from which the glass walls and roof attach. When read together the shifting angular forms give a rhythm that references the peaks and valleys of a mountain range.
Working with a multidisciplinary team Boffa Miskell led the project from concept to completion. Landscape architect Mark Brown, says the team took inspiration from the Ellsworth Mountains in Antarctica, and the moving icepack.
The Boffa Miskell design is interactive for users.
Along with project managers Rubix, and Higgs Construction, Structural engineers Holmes, lighting engineers Perdersen Read and light and sound specialists Perceptual Engineering helped realise Boffa Miskell’s design vision.
Small speakers in the frames, and larger bass speakers in the garden, provide a sense of the sounds of Antarctica - watery, icy sounds akin to blocks of ice shifting or melting.
“Echoes” transfers movement into light and sound.
“We were lucky,” Brown says. “The team at Christchurch International Airport have a focus on creating a quality, fun visitor experience. They're into doing ‘cool stuff’, incorporating the latest technology and pushing for memorable designs that create a sense of place. They're not interested in “stock standard”.”
The walkway follows an axis from the airport to the International Antarctic Centre - hence its name. Brown says it’s also close to where Operation Deep Freeze operates from, meaning users get a good look at the enormous US and NZ air force planes that head off to Antarctica. Operation Deep Freeze is the codename for American missions to the ice. The airport sees itself as the “Gateway to Antarctica” and the walkway celebrates this.
The team took inspiration from the Ellsworth Mountains in Antarctica, and the moving icepack.
Opened just as the country went into lockdown Brown says the installation hasn’t really hit “full noise” yet, when multiple people using it at once will set off an impressive light show. But as domestic tourism ramps up it’s likely to become a visitor attraction in itself.