Bigg Design played a small but pivotal role in the huge team effort that was required to realise ‘The Kelpies’ - the largest equine sculptures in the world. These colossal sculptures stand at 30m tall and form a gateway to the Forth and Clyde canal at Falkirk and the new canal extension built as part of The Helix land transformation project, that we also worked on.
Assisting Lightfolio with their lighting design, we were tasked with designing a solution to a particular problem. Due to the difficult site constraints and the large number and size of lights required to light the magnificent sculptures, there was nowhere available to place the lights as above ground they would form trip hazards for the busy visitor attraction. In order to reveal the sculpture as elegantly as possible, the light units also had to be in very specific locations. We therefore designed innovative ‘light pits’ built from stainless steel and specialist walk-over glass with an optically clear texture to avoid them becoming slippery when wet. The sunken pits sit flush with ground level allowing visitors to freely walk around the site whilst giving maximum light output and allowing the LED lamps to function as the lighting plan was intended.