"Alba" Valerio Berruti, Alba

All projects"Alba" Valerio Berruti, Alba

A new dawn

Italy

Dedicated to the late entrepreneur Michele Ferrero, founder of the eponymous multinational food corporation, the renewed central square of Alba hosts the creation of the artist Valerio Berruti, gorgeously illuminated by the renowned architect Alexander Bellman with the help of Griven custom LED lighting solutions specifically engineered for this prestigious project.

Alba, a 12.5-meter bronzed steel statue depicting a little girl, is the new work of the famous artist Valerio Berruti that embellishes, along with the circular infinity edge fountain that supports it, one of the main squares of the city of Alba, Piazza Michele Ferrero. Alba has a lot of meanings for the Albese artist, who named it after the place where he was born and is still living. Meaning dawn, Alba is a reminder of childhood, a moment in life when everything can still happen, just like a new day at sunrise. Moreover, children are Berruti’s favourite subject as well as the main target of the Albese company Ferrero, sponsor of the entire work, and of its world renowned product lines, such as Nutella and Kinder. Despite its size, Alba stands out for its light shape, evanescent profile, and unfinished design that tickles the viewer's imagination.

Year

2022

Project

"Alba" Valerio Berruti

Location

Alba, Italy

Lighting design

Alexander Bellman, Gruppo C14, Milan

Pictures

Courtesy of Gruppo C14, Milan / Griven

During the official inauguration that unveiled it to the city at sunset, Alba showed its true colours to a vast audience. Conceived by the renowned architect and lighting designer Alexander Bellman, founder of the C14 Group of Milan, the lighting concept was inspired by the discreet, almost embarrassed attitude of Alba, creating refined accents of liquid light on its thin bronze profile.

With its absolute black granite base, the infinity edge fountain that supports Alba is equipped with nozzles specifically designed to create soft ripples on the water surface. Bellman wanted the light to come right from inside the fountain itself, crossing its rippled surface from bottom to top to translate these moving effects onto the sinuous profile of Alba. The idea was to transform the digital emission of the LED fixtures into a wave of natural light, allowing the gentle flow of the pool to interact with the luminous flux emitted by a state-of-the-art light source.

The required liaison between light and water could be created only by small underwater spotlights, with low energy consumption rates and high efficiency luminous flux. A custom version of the brand new Moon Marine Inox, specific for underwater installation, has been designed in a very short time by our engineers to adapt the product to the project prerequisites. Engineered to enhance landscape and architectural details in residential or commercial areas located at the seaside or in coastal environments, Moon Marine is an innovative LED luminaire capable of creating intense emotions through soft lighting effects in every desired coloured or white shade.

Twelve Moon Marine Inox in warm white 3000K with narrow beam optics have been installed inside the fountain aiming at different parts of the monument. The lights vary their intensity according to different points of view and hours of the day thanks to 4 pre-programmed scenes with differentiated dimming options. Alba's impact on the square is dramatic and intense, both at night and during the day, delivering a new identity to the hub of the city.

Credits:
Visual Artist: Valerio Berruti www.valerioberruti.com
Lighting Designer: Alexander Bellman, Gruppo C14, Milan www.gruppoc14.com
Contractor: Municipality of Alba
Main sponsor: Fondazione Ferrero
Pictures: Courtesy of Gruppo C14, Milan / Griven

Products installed:
12x Moon Marine Inox 3000K with narrow optics custom version for underwater use
12x Moon Marine formwork custom version for underwater use
4x DMX and control box, custom version
1x AL1424 Wall TSC