DropCeiling V2

‘DropCeiling’ is a three-dimensional surface of light built from 34 standard LED lighting panels. It responds to people on the street in two ways: to how they move right now, and to the patterns of movement it has learned over time.

The work is designed as a character that keeps changing. It runs 24 hours a day and compares the short-term and long-term history of cause and effect between its own behaviour and the people passing by. Based on its recorded history, it can change how it responds and how it presents. It learns the rhythms of the street, but it is built to stay curious and keep reacting to the public.

The designer does not script the movement or function. The design comes in the form of an “interaction budget”: a set of rules that creates friction, challenge and reward for the algorithms that drive the work. The budget shapes what the system wants, and the system works out how to get it.

The first ‘DropCeiling’ was created for DesignTO 2026. It ran for 54 days and learned about its site from scratch. Every input, output and decision it made was saved to a database.

That memory is now being built into V2’s control and character. Before it is ever installed, ‘DropCeiling V2’ will have lived through thousands of simulated versions of the 2027 festival.

Puckett Research & Design