Dublin Winter Lights - Unsquare

Part of the Dublin Winter Lights 2023 festival, Unsquare transformed one of Dublin's most iconic historic landmarks—the Bank of Ireland at College Green—into a massive canvas for digital art. Produced in collaboration with Steve Mac Devitt, Adam Cullen, and Eventco Ireland, the project turned a 100-meter-wide historic facade into a living, breathing spectacle of light and sound.

Working in my hometown on such a high-profile site was a career highlight, requiring a balance of intricate motion design and a deep respect for the architectural integrity of the building.

ASK

The brief from Dublin City Council Events was ambitious: create a high-impact projection mapping experience that would serve as a flagship installation for the city’s winter celebrations. The challenge lay in the building's complex, neo-classical architecture. We needed to create animations that didn't just "play" on the surface, but interacted with the pillars, windows, and pediments of the Bank of Ireland. With thousands of spectators passing through College Green nightly, the visuals had to be punchy, perfectly synced to a unique score, and technically flawless.

Approach

I worked alongside Director Steve Mac Devitt to develop a visual narrative that felt both modern and timeless.

  • Architectural Integration: Every element was meticulously mapped to the building's physical features. We used the pillars as framing devices for the motion, allowing the "Unsquare" theme to play with the rigid geometry of the historic stone.

  • Collaboration-Led Pipeline: The project was a massive team effort. I focused on translating the creative vision into high-resolution motion assets that could handle the scale of 30,000-lumen projectors, while Adam Cullen’s score drove the rhythmic energy of the animation.

  • Technical Resilience: Working with Eventco Ireland and Tom Rohan, we ensured that the digital assets were optimized for the specific atmospheric conditions of a Dublin winter, maintaining clarity and color depth across the entire facade.

SYSTEMS & SCALABILITY

Developing a Kinetic Asset Library

Because of the duration and scale of the installation, I developed a modular Asset Library to manage the production efficiently.

  • Procedural Animation: I created a library of procedural shapes and textures that could be scaled and skewed in real-time to fit different sections of the building. This allowed us to iterate quickly on complex patterns without starting from scratch for every new scene.

  • Reusable Rigs: By building custom "mapping rigs" in After Effects, I ensured that every flash of light or geometric shift was perfectly aligned with the Bank's architectural map, allowing us to maintain pixel-perfect accuracy throughout the 10-minute loop.

DESIGN

The visual identity of Unsquare was built on Dynamic Geometry and Vibrant Contrast.

  • The "Unsquare" Concept: We leaned into high-contrast black-and-white patterns that would "break" the square logic of the architecture, followed by bursts of saturated color to create a sense of festive wonder.

  • Rhythmic Sync: Using the score as a guide, I designed motion that felt physically connected to the sound. Bass hits were translated into architectural pulses, while melodic flourishes triggered complex, swirling typographic and geometric flourishes.

  • Public Impact: The final result was a seamless blend of heritage and technology—a celebration of Dublin’s spirit through the lens of modern motion design.