Falls ranged from 90 to 120 feet tall and went to the hearing on June 26 October 13, 2008. The project was commissioned by the nonprofit Public Art Fund in collaboration with the City of New York.
Each waterfall pumped 35,000 liters of water per minute from the East River at the top of a scaffold. As the water flowed over the lip of the falls was lit by LED Lightings.
Each waterfall used a continuous line of five-foot sections assembled LED Tube, provided by Boca Flasher Inc, with a mixture of cold and warm white LED controlled by three different channels. 300W total power per section of 5 feet at 100% output, while the actual operating load was 15-25%, depending on the site.
The light from the LED lamps brushed the back of the water enters the flow and accentuate the effect of wind gusts and changes in water flow. Custom baffle just below the LED Display to prevent glare from normal viewing angles.
Lighting Designer for the project was Michael Mehl of Jaros, Baum & Bolles. “Working with LED spotlights offers exciting possibilities both technically and aesthetically in the conduct of Eliasson’s artistic vision,” he said.
Some of the immediate concerns about the use of LEDs, such as color reproduction and heat dissipation, were overwhelmed by the nature of the external environment in this project, said Mehl. “Unlike previous projects we have worked, LED bulbs were not initially selected for its promise of long life, because the project had a limited installation period of only four months of operation,” he added.
Hide the source was the biggest challenge for the water looks as if lit by the moon. “The relationship between the size of the light output of LEDs in favor of more conventional light sources,” said Mehl. “We focused our attention on the design of warnings from technology such as color consistency from lamp to lamp and optics.”