A Majestic Oak in the Cree Shimmer Wall

If you drive through downtown Raleigh, you’ll notice a grand new Oak tree swaying in the breeze. Literally.

The Cree Shimmer Wall, which bedazzles the new Raleigh Convention Center, is a spectacular merger of nature, art and architecture. And it is simply beautiful.

I spoke to Thomas H. Sayre, the principal sculptor of Clearscapes, a multi-disciplinary design firm based in Raleigh. I’m sure you’ll easily recognize another of his sculptures from 1999, Gyre, the series of earth-cast rings created on site at the NC Museum of Art.

Already an amazing site with natural lighting provided by Mother Nature, it will shimmer like thousands of tiny stars when the Raleigh Convention Center opens on September 5. Clouds passing overhead are tracked along the face of the wall, which also ripples with enormous waves when the wind blows. Heaven on Earth, that’s what it’ll be.

According to Sayre, the design took about three years. “It’s an aspect of the convention center design,” he said. “It’s actually a piece of the architecture—a louver that lets air in and is attached to air conditioning on the other side.”

Just under 80,000 aluminum squares, called “flappers,” comprise the mural that represents the City of Oaks. The flappers are two colors, flat black and shiny silver. “We collaborated with Ned Kahn out of California. He’s done a number of projects with the flappers, though he doesn’t use colors.” And when asked if Clearscapes will use the flappers for future designs, Sayre replied, “no, we don’t intend to reuse materials.”

The wall is called the “Cree Shimmer Wall” because Cree company light emitting diodes (LEDs) will be illuminating the piece extensively at night. And though the LEDs will surely be a sight to behold, Sayre agreed with us optimistic gardeners: “There’s no light better than the sun, in terms of changeability and illumination.”

I’ve been watching and enjoying the installation and natural lighting on the Cree Shimmer Wall forever, it seems, but I’m beyond curious to see it in lights. Sayre and his team at Clearscapes have certainly captured the heart of the City of Oaks, and have designed a wonderful welcome to visitors of the capitol city.