Vicky Zhou – Looking Outwards – 10

Swing Times is an interactive public installation of 20 illuminated ring-shaped swings located in Boston. At rest, the swings emit a soft, white light that lightens the area, but, once in motion, a custom micro-controller flips the LED lighting within the swing from a white to a more vibrant purple. This controller signals and measures the swing’s activity level, which then triggers the light at varying intensities. I admire this project a lot because of how it creates an engaging experience and transforms a static place into an active park for Boston residents and visitors, as I had the pleasure of personally interacting with this installation when I visited my brother in Boston.

J. Meejin Yoon is an architect, designer, educator, and co-founder of design-drive architecture studio Howeler + Yoon. She is a current professor and Head of the Department of Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and previously studied at Cornell University for her Bachelor of Architecture degree and Harvard University for her Master of Architecture degree in Urban Design. She also received a Fullbright Fellowship to Korea. Broadly speaking, her work revolves around innovative and interactive landscape, and subversive structural work in various communities and for various audiences. Although she is not listed as a direct member of the design team for the Swing Time project, she is in charge and principle of many other projects under her studio, such as an upcoming “Float Lab” architectural installation.