Glow Causeway
Developed for the caravans of Orrimeth. One continuous road across the salt flat, with lines of current that light up inside its surface and show the way.
DDeettaaiillss
For generations the caravans of Orrimeth crossed the salt flat by the light of its two moons, and lost their way whenever a moon was new. They asked us for a road that would always show the way.
The Glow Causeway is printed as one continuous ribbon, two hundred kilometres from the eastern mesas to the market towns. Lines of current run inside its surface and wake a few hundred metres ahead of each caravan, then fade behind it. Salt, heat and the weight of every wheel leave no mark.
SSppeecciiffiiccaattiioonnss
- Client
- Orrimeth Caravans
- Planet
- Orrimeth
- Year
- 2016
- Designer
- Ilvea Sorrun
- Dimensions
- 212 km × 9 m
- Mass
- 1.9 Mt
- Density
- 1.6–2.4 g/cm³
- Load
- 900 t per axle
- Gravity
- 0.8 g
- Energy draw
- 1.8 kW per km
- Print time
- 19 days
HHiigghhlliigghhttss
Light that follows
The current wakes ahead of every caravan and rests behind it. The rest of the road stays dark, and the stars stay visible.
Printed in one pass
Nineteen days, one continuous print, no joints for the salt to open.
Nothing to maintain
Where the surface wears, it thickens again on its own. The caravans have never seen a repair crew.
My grandmother crossed by the moons, my mother by the stars. My children cross by the road, and they have never once been lost.