A catenary lighting installation designed by Tensile for Abercrombie Lane was selected by the City of Sydney as a winning entrant for the Art & About Festival 2012.

Titled ‘Augmenting Spatiality’, the installation seeks to simultaneously reveal ambient and distinct urban spatial qualities between Sydney and Istanbul. The original design for the lights was based upon a similar lane-way to that of Abercrombie Lane in Istanbul, establishing the dialogue between the two cities.

Engaged by the artist Refik Anadol and architect Alexis Sanal to provide a structural design and supervise the installation, Tensile worked closely with the City of Sydney and local businesses in the lane-way as well as the Turkish designers and German electronics team on a very tight schedule to be ready for opening night.

The technology utilised for the lighting had never been installed on such a scale, with close to 1000m of lighting cable running, turning and bouncing up and down the lane-way. Given that detailing and installation methodology were paramount to the success of the project, Tensile had to consider careful integration of the electronics and structural systems at all stages of the project.

The playful nature of the lights is a stark contrast to the existing public lighting within the lane-way. The truly breath-taking outcome of the catenary lighting installation opens up so many possibilities for future lighting installations.