Solar Terrain is a temporary installation in San Francisco. Existing on site is a small museum facing a busy street, an iron fence, ivy-covered wall, dwarf Japanese maple tree, and permanent sculpture. The museum entry resembles a tranquil Japanese garden, but the deep setback from the street produces a heavily shaded urban space and significant identity and visibility issues for the museum. Solar Terrain is an invention for this unique condition—a light for the shaded entry space, an icon for the museum, and an off-grid solution to the urban condition that merges technological, architectural, and landscape components.

Solar panels on the roof of the building collect available sun light throughout the day to activate electroluminescent wires. The wires travel down the facade of the museum to the garden where they are supported by a field of rods. As a field the rods create the elevations of a glowing compact terrain that undulates in response to the existing features of the garden. The wires terminate at the existing wrought iron fence from which they take their tight spacing—4.25”.