February 2008 • Observed
Green Growth
By Melanie Ryan
Ross Lovegrove’s newest creations, willowy solar-powered streetlamps designed in collaboration with Artemide, are both out of the ordinary and off the grid. The plantlike Solar Trees feature spring-green steel stems topped with photovoltaic cells, which capture sunlight and use it to power the attached LEDs. As Artemide considers the feasibility of putting them into production, a temporary installation of the prototypes outside the MAK museum in Vienna has turned into a worldwide tour with stops in Paris and Frankfurt.
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