lee chu – looking outwards 01

The Pardall Tunnel, at UC Santa Barbara, had originally been an ordinary central passageway into Isla Vista, the main housing area for SB students. A tragedy in 2014 ended in the death of six SB students, and a year later as tribute to the lives lost, the tunnel lit up blue.

The tunnel now has LED strips lining its length, as well as motion sensors which trigger the lights as pedestrians and bikes make their way in and out of campus. Kim Yasuda, an art professor at SB, along with Marcos Novak of the Media Arts and Technology program were behind this project which now not only brings meaning, but also entertainment and excitement to a mundane trek to school. I had recently been to the Pardall Tunnel, and the lights seem to have only white LEDs and could benefit from a hardware upgrade.

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