ODE's Blushers

Fibreglass-reinforced epoxy, LED and solar cells
Oosterdokskade 151, Amsterdam
2009 – 2012
Commissioner Gemeente Amsterdam

The City of Amsterdam held a competition among 50 selected design studios to produce a sustainable lighting element on Oosterdoks Island (ODE). ODE’s Blozers [ODE’s Blushers], a design by Marjet Wessels Boer, emerged as the winner in 2009. Since April 2012, ODE's Blozers have taken pride of place on the elevator house of a bicycle parking facility. During the day they flaunt their solar-cell plumage and quietly build up a charge. When evening falls, the Blozers come to life and two LED spotlights slowly shine left and right; as if opening first one eye and then the other. The Blozers’ bodies normally light up white, as if glowing in the dark. When a cyclist nears the bicycle racks, the Blozers’ bodies lazily ripple through the spectrum, greeting the approaching cyclist with a blush. The colour of these blushes changes with the seasons.

D66 made a movie about the contest A time-lapse movie about the installation