Interactive LED lights, as the name suggests, are LED lights that can interact with people. Interactive LED lights are applied in cities, providing a way for strangers to communicate under the sharing economy. They provide a technology to explore strangers who are not connected, compress time in a space, connect people living in the same city, and showcase the characteristics of invisible data and surveillance culture permeating into today’s urban space.
For example, the central plot of the square in Shanghai Wujiaochang has been transformed into an LED interactive ground. In order to showcase the map and local customs of Yangpu, the designer used LED interactive lights to form the ground, presenting the style of Yangpu Riverside, fully reflecting the digital characteristics of scientific and technological innovation in Yangpu. At the same time, a large area of LED screens are installed on the walls of the five corridors in the commercial district, displaying the advertising and activity content of the district. At the five exits, three-level guide boards and handover wall signs are also installed. Walking through an LED interaction channel is like crossing a time tunnel.

Interactive LED lights can also be used to create an interactive LED wall. Recently, it was successfully applied at the WZ Jardins Hotel in S ã o Paulo, Brazil. The designer has created an interactive LED wall based on local data that can respond to the surrounding noise, air quality, and people’s interaction behavior on corresponding software. In addition, a microphone specifically designed to collect noise and sensors for detecting air quality are installed on the interactive exterior wall, which can display the sound landscape of the surrounding environment within a day using audio waveforms or different colors. For example, warm colors refer to air pollution, while cold colors indicate improved air quality, allowing people to see the changes in urban living environment very intuitively.

Interactive LED can make street lights interesting, and to some extent, it can also be said to be eerie! A streetlight called Shadowing was jointly designed by British architecture student Matthew Rosier and Canadian interaction designer Jonathan Chomko. This street light has no difference in appearance from ordinary street lights, but when you pass by this street light, you will suddenly find a shadow on the ground that doesn’t look like you. This is because the interactive street light has an infrared camera that can record any shape generated by movement under the light, and is processed by a computer to create an artificial shadow effect. Whenever pedestrians pass by, it acts like a stage light, projecting the computer-created artificial shadow effect to your side, accompanying pedestrians walking together. Additionally, in the absence of pedestrians, it will loop through the shadows previously recorded by the computer, reminiscent of changes on the street. But imagine walking alone on the street in the dead of night, or looking at the street lights downstairs at home, suddenly seeing the shadows of others, would it suddenly feel very strange!