Dec 12, 2025
WE START WITH THE THINGS WE FIND
an illumination and surveillance device activates the narrow corridor connecting two previously separate apartments
2001
New York
Tom Healy and Fred Hochberg
Jan Hilmer
concept & vision
LITE-GATE is an illumination and surveillance device commissioned to activate the narrow corridor connecting two previously separate apartments. It recreates the experience of passing through a metal detector, a luminous buffer within the privacy of a home
design & architecture
four clear resin panels are stacked and attached to the corridor¹s walls, two on either side. The panels are cast using a plastic shipping pallet as the mold, and replicate its pattern in clear resin. Six neon tubes and one surveillance camera are embedded in the cast of each panel. Together, they illuminate and survey the passage of people through the corridor as they enter the apartment. Images from the cameras are displayed on four flat-screen monitors affixed to the living room wall. The body passing through the corridor is broken up and recomposed in four views
impact & significance
an experiment to highlight the bottleneck of a space, to celebrate the complex texture of a plastic pallet, to reflect on surveillance, with playfulness
Dec 12, 2025
WE START WITH THE THINGS WE FIND