Rainbow Machine, an installation commissioned by Auckland Council and designed by University of Auckland (UoA) staff and graduates, was recently honoured with a Good Design Australia Gold Award. The team behind the interactive installation is comprised of UoA staff Sarosh Mullah, Elam graduate Shahriar Asdollah-Zadeh and fellow UoA graduate and architect Patrick Loo.

The Good Design Australia Awards is a prestigious and well-established international awards programme, and they received a record number of entries this year from around the world. The Awards’ jury said the Rainbow Machine is “innovative and cleverly connects design, art, science and engineering to create a positive experience for users. The Rainbow Machine, it is clear, will bring a sense of delight and wonder wherever it roams, highlighting the need for community access to sunlight as our urban environments become denser”.

Rainbow Machine can be installed in different locations and first inhabited Auckland’s Silo Park. It is currently on display at the Māngere Arts Centre. The machine lets users harness natural light and creates an immersive moment of saturated colour. “We wanted to design an interactive art installation for children and adults and let them interact and experience it together through discovery, activation and play. We thought it would be great to create something that people wouldn’t expect to find and inspire curiosity and find it was something they could interact with,” says Asdollah-Zadeh.

The three designers behind it met while completing their undergraduate studies at the University of Auckland. “The most exciting ideas come through collaboration and working at the edges of where creative disciplines cross over,” Loo concludes.