(UK) — Transforming light and sound into a sensory interpretation of climate volatility, this year’s headline light art installation creates a profound space for reflection.
As anticipation builds for the upcoming design showcase, LiGHT 26 has announced that visitors will be welcomed to experience Take a Moment, a striking new immersive light art installation designed by Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA). Commissioned by [d]arc media, the ambitious project is being brought to life in close collaboration with architectural lighting manufacturer formalighting, alongside Display Graphics, which serves as the official installation build partner for the event.
Taking place at the Business Design Centre in London across the 18th and 19th of November, LiGHT 26 will once again demonstrate the vast creative possibilities of illumination far beyond its standard functional applications. The exhibition invites attendees to step inside an environment that actively explores the intricate, often fragile relationship between nature, global transformation, and the increasingly delicate balance of our surrounding ecosystem.
Take a Moment is carefully crafted to invite visitors to consider the immense, invisible forces that constantly shape the world around us. By creating a fully immersive environment, the installation heightens public awareness of the vital natural systems that modern society so frequently takes for granted. Rather than presenting abstract concepts through standard exhibition formats, the project envelops the viewer in a sequence of atmospheric spaces designed to provoke genuine emotional resonance.
Journey Through Three Natural Forces
At the heart of the installation is a sequence of atmospheric environments split across three distinct chambers. Each physical space reinterprets changing climatic conditions through a deeply evolving interplay of light, sound, and spatial architecture.
Rather than viewing these elements from a distance, visitors are guided through an architectural sequence where each chamber investigates one of nature’s fundamental and most powerful forces: the sun, water, and wind. Together, these three spaces explore the delicate equilibrium of the natural world, presenting these familiar, life-giving elements through cyclical narratives of growth and destruction, stability and disruption, peace and volatility.
Within the thematic framework of the installation, each force holds a dual identity. Sunlight is inherently capable of nourishing, illuminating, and sustaining life across the globe; yet, its rapid intensification can result in devastating drought, extreme heatwaves, and increasingly frequent wildfires. Similarly, water is essential for refreshing and sustaining all living things on Earth, but shifting weather patterns and rising sea levels can swiftly turn this vital resource into the catalyst for disastrous flooding. Meanwhile, a gentle, harmless breeze can escalate under volatile atmospheric conditions to become a destructive hurricane.
These dramatic transformations are brought to physical and emotional life across the three dedicated chambers: Drought, Flooding, and Hurricane. Within each chamber, both light and sound build, crest, and recede through repeating, carefully choreographed cycles. By precisely modulating these cycles of compression and release, deep darkness and piercing illumination, as well as calculated shifts between silence and sound, light transitions from a mere physical medium into a powerful storyteller.
Furthermore, the integration of sound design extends the psychological boundaries of the installation far beyond the physical walls of each chamber. Moments of profound tranquillity are deliberately and sharply contrasted with moments of mounting tension, resulting in an overarching experience that is simultaneously captivating and deeply unsettling.
A Sensory Exploration of the Climate Crisis
At its foundational core, Take a Moment reflects upon the unfolding climate crisis not through cold statistics or dense data points, but entirely through visceral sensory experience. By directly immersing visitors within escalating, simulated climatic conditions, the installation challenges observers to contemplate the direct relationship between human behavior and the complex planetary systems that sustain all life. In doing so, it successfully highlights the increasingly fragile boundary that separates ecological harmony from severe instability.
The realization of this complex vision relies heavily on the technical and creative expertise of ZHA’s project partners. ZHA has partnered directly with formalighting to bring Take a Moment to life, drawing heavily on the lighting manufacturer’s renowned expertise in innovative, precision-engineered lighting solutions. This partnership helps translate a sophisticated architectural vision into a seamless, immersive sensory experience.
Through the highly creative application of illumination, the installation explores changing intensities, shifting atmospheres, and the complex psychological relationship between light and darkness. It serves as a prime demonstration of how advanced lighting technology can extend far beyond basic functionality to become an integral, narrative-driven component of modern architecture.
Together, ZHA and formalighting bring architecture, light, and sound into a dynamic dialogue, ultimately producing an environment that encourages every visitor to pause, reflect, and actively engage with the rapidly changing world around them. Meanwhile, Display Graphics joins the collaboration as the official build partner, providing the necessary technical support and craftsmanship required for the physical realization of the installation on the exhibition floor at LiGHT 26.
Continuing a Legacy of Creative Illumination
The arrival of Take a Moment continues LiGHT’s strong and ongoing commitment to showcasing the profound creative and experiential potential of light within contemporary design. The installation follows in the footsteps of previous high-profile artistic showcases at the event, including Intra-Spectrum by Frankie Boyle in 2024 and Re: Vision by Speirs Major Light Architecture in 2025.
For regular attendees and first-time visitors to LiGHT 26 alike, Take a Moment offers a unique opportunity to engage with light in an entirely different dimension. Beyond the commercial products, technical innovations, and professional conversations taking place across the wider exhibition floor, the installation carves out a much-needed physical space for contemplation, fostering a deeper, more personal appreciation of how light, architecture, and the natural environment continually influence human perception.
Save the Date and Join the Conversation
For those planning to attend the exhibition, organizers have announced a special live event associated with the centerpiece installation. Attendees are invited to join the conversation in the [d]arc thoughts space at 5:15 pm on Wednesday, November 18th.
During this special session, [d]arc media Managing Editor Helen Ankers will sit down with members of the ZHA design team to discuss and explore the primary inspirations, conceptual challenges, and architectural goals behind the project. Following the live Q&A session, attendees will be given the opportunity to personally meet the designers and experience Take a Moment firsthand.
For further information regarding the schedule, event details, and to register to attend the show, visitors can visit the official exhibition website at www.lightexpo.london.
