Norway’s Field of Peace

Small Design Firm from Cambridge, Mass. was selected to help design and implement four large interactive installations for the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo, Norway. The Nobel Field, honoring each Laureate, is an illuminated garden of LCD displays, LED grass, and sound that responds to your movements through the space.

To honor the life of Alfred Nobel, the firm designed the Nobel Chamber, housing an interactive book in the spirit of our Illuminated Manuscript. The third installation, the Wallpapers, is a continuous display surface of 68 million pixels, designed to allow visitors to further explore the life, work, and legacy of the Nobel Laureates. Finally, we designed the ambient sound and light for the Register, an abstract map of the world that serves as a gateway to the Center.

All the Peace Prize laureates are presented in the Nobel Field comprising 96 digital display screens set in a garden of 1000 fibre-optic lights.

This installation is the Center’s focal point. It is a virtual garden that grows out of a hundred LCD screens dispersed among a thousand sparkling “blades of grass”. Each screen responds when someone approaches, triggering a presentation of the particular laureate’s history and philosophy.

Adjaye/Associates are behind the design, Timon Botez has developed the information structure and the graphical content, while Eric Gunther and John Rothenberg at Small Design Firm developed the complex software and designed the power system for the installation.

A total of 96 individuals have received the Nobel Peace Prize, 84 men and 12 women. 23 prizes have gone to organizations.

For further information visit Davidsmall.com and Nobelpeacecenter.org