Planeterraeum
A Construction Guidebook
Over the course of a 10-month period in 2014, a small group of students from the University of Waterloo designed and constructed an installation for Toronto’s annual all-night festival Nuit Blanche. The installation was an 8-meter geodesic dome, outfitted with video projects and sound. Traditionally, geodesic domes have been the architectural typology of planetariums. For this reason, they have become the de facto place to explore the unknown and experience a world outside of your own. In our installation, we sought to build a space for pedestrians to gather and experience the life of the city from an alternative perspective.
Portraying the unseen perspective of Toronto’s downtown, ‘Planetarium’ projected video feed from an over-head drone onto the multifaceted interior walls of the geodesic dome. By inverting the image seen over the downtown onto the ceiling of the dome, we allow the public to orient themselves in their city from 100 meters in the sky. This alternative perspective affords a glimpse into how the viewer relates to the complexity of the city below. The project was designed with the clear intent of easy transportation and quick assembly and disassembly.