James Garrett Jr., AIA, is a registered architect in Minnesota and New York and the founder of 4RM+ULA (FORM + Urban Landscape Articulation), as well as an adjunct instructor in the Master of Architecture program at the University Of Minnesota College of Design. Below is the story of how James, along with his U of M architectural students, built a futuristic bus stop that was illuminated with Rosco LitePads.
Garrett taught a studio-course this past spring entitled; METRO TRANSIT Millennial Bus Stop Studio. The students were all challenged by the Twin Cities Metro Transit Authority to design bus stops for ‘constrained sites’ that have high-ridership, but insufficient space to fully serve the riders. Metro Transit selected a promising, modular, concept by student, Amy Van Gessel. Her design became the basis for the Garrett’s summer Design+Build project where the students brought Van Gessel’s “Solar Bus Shelter Prototype” to life and displayed it at the Eco Experience during the Minnesota State Fair.
The narrow footprint of Van Gessel’s design made it conducive to placement on sites currently not able to accommodate a standard-sized bus shelter. She included solar panels in her design to provide a power-source that enabled illumination of the shelter, without the cost and hassle of connecting it to the power grid.
James Garrett Jr. and his student team chose Rosco LitePads to light up their solar-powered bus shelter. Their efficient power consumption produced the brightness the structure needed without draining the solar batteries, and their low-profile construction matched Van Gessel’s streamlined design. A number of long 3” strips of LitePad HO90 were specified to increase the visibility inside the bus shelter at night.
While 21” Round LitePad RGB units were installed at the top of two totems. These fixtures introduced an element of fun and playfulness to the transit-user experience while also providing real-time information about bus arrivals to users. The concept was that, using the GPS coordinates of the bus, the round LitePads would change color as the bus approaches: Red when it’s five minutes away, Yellow at one minute and Green when the bus arrives.
The team, obviously didn’t have the GPS functionality for their Eco Experience display at the Minnesota State Fair, so they turned to local Rosco dealer Gopher Stage Lighting for a self-contained control system that would show the booth visitors how the LitePad RGB would change from Red, to Yellow, to Green.
James Garrett Jr. and his students created the bus stop of the future and illuminated it with Rosco LitePads. The plan and hope for the design is that the MTA will install the student-designed shelter, complete – with all of its features, on the U of M campus. Until then, we’ll wait and see what James and his talented students come up with next!
How would you put Rosco Custom LitePad to work in your next project? Email us or let us know in the comments!
Joel Svendsen October 13, 2015 Questions?
Marketing Director: Joel's Rosco career began in Rosco's Hollywood office in 1999 – first in sales covering the Western US and the Los Angeles Film & Television market, and then as Product Manager for Rosco's Film & Television Products. Joel's knowledge about Rosco's products and how they're used in each of our different marketplaces makes him well suited for bringing the stories in Spectrum to life.