Dandelion

Dandelion is an energetically self-sufficient light installation powered by renewable energy, inspired by the lush nature landscape of NTU and the turfed architectural roofscape of the School of Art, Design and Media (ADM) building. Standing over five metres tall, Dandelion is NTU's first interdisciplinary artwork created entirely by the NTU Community, an artistic concept that marries art with technology and is self-sustaining. 

Dandelion is conceived to mimic the dandelion flower’s natural structure known as Taraxacum. It is composed of 59 'seeds', each one a sealed and self-sustaining power generating unit, secured onto a Pentakis-Dodecahedron structure that holds them on top of the stem. The seeds are interchangeable and the failure of one will not affect the entire system. The light installation harvests solar energy in the day via 12 solar panels and stores enough charge to last three days of cloudy skies.

Dandelion was presented by Wee Yen Lynn from the School of Art, Design and Media (ADM) in the Product Design class conducted by visiting artist Fabrizio Galli in 2012.

Wee was then a third year student, and her work was shortlisted for development by an inter-disciplinary team of faculty and staff from ADM, Energy Research Institute at NTU (ERI@N) and NTU Museum. 

Watch how the solar-powered Dandelion twinkles after sunset on NTU'S IG: http://bit.ly/NTUdandelion

Learn more about the ideation, creation and construction process: https://fabriziogalli2013.wordpress.com/