Siemens Mobility and Pelican Studios showcase collaboration and connection with Mira Solar Orchid demonstration

Photos taken by Siemens Mobility

After months of working together, last week our friends at Siemens Mobility Port Melbourne and Pelican Studios hosted a mini-launch event to showcase their collaboration on the Mira Solar Orchid project.

It was a great event that demonstrated the vision and hard work of Callan Morgan of Pelican Studios who is the creator and driver behind this challenging and exciting project, and celebrated the collaboration and co-creation with the engineering team at Siemens.

Brandon Fisher from Siemens and Callan Morgan spoke about the process of collaboration, which actually started back in October 2023 when we co-hosted a “Meet the Neighbours” Tour with Siemens here in Fishermans Bend. They navigated the legal and IP issues to support a collaboration between a giant technology company and a local artist. They also working with both the Siemens Digital team who supplied the control system and Adam Syed and Damiru Dharmadasa from the Fishermans Bend offices who volunteered their time and energies to this worthwhile project. Adam and Damiru shared their enthusiasm for the project and remarked that working on something different to their normal work applications had enabled them to test and learn more about the Siemens proprietary software.

Standing next to the impressive 1:10 scale model, Callan spoke about his vision to create a global network of Mira Solar Orchids, a public artwork that is powered by solar power but creates a spaces to that foster human connection, and a connection between humans and nature. The artwork will be a series of majestic, 8m tall, kinetic steel structures shaped like orchids. The sculptures will feature large petals that pivot from a hydraulically driven, motion-controlled core and are lined with flexible solar panels. Working with Siemens has supported Callan to progress this project by navigating and solving problems to create the model and test it using the digital twin created by Brad Hammond from XY01.

As Eric Bougeois, Head of Product for Australia New Zealand at Siemens Mobility, commented:

“It was a fantastic event with great collaboration from different horizons. Thanks to Callan for sharing your passion and I am so proud of our young generation of engineering for embracing this challenge and exploring aresa of our CAD tools in order to support this great initiative!”

Whilst the long term vision of this artwork is to create nature-inspired human connections, it was clear to see from everyone involved that this collaboration has built genuine connection through the process, as well as the vision for the final outcome. When you hear the stories, see the beautiful model and the digital twin 3d visualisations, it’s not hard to imagine the connections and impact to be created when the project is realised in full scale.

Congrats to everyone involved and thanks to Brandon Fisher, Damiru Dharmadasa, Adam Syed and the whole team at Siemens Fishermans Bend for getting behind this great project.

For more information go to: https://www.callanmorgan.com/mira