The Constellation is a permanent tribute to the UAE’s founding father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. The artwork was designed by artist Ralph Helmick, whose practice explores human perception through large-scale public sculptures and installations that invite optical discovery. We collaborated closely with the artist at both his studio in Boston and during the extensive lighting trials in Abu Dhabi to achieve the optical visual performance of the lighting scheme. Particularly challenging was the task of conceptualising and developing a lighting scheme that would highlight the unique artwork from multiple viewing angles, whilst retaining the subtle complexity and depth of the sculpture. The Constellation consists of over 1300 geometric shapes suspended from more 1000 tensioned cables. These elements constitute varying sizes of the five different types of regular, convex polyhedrons known as ‘platonic solids’, which are renowned for their mathematical beauty and symmetry. In order to achieve three dimensional rendition of the sculpture at night, 753 downlights and 1203 uplights were custom made to illuminate the sculpture from above and below. Each fixture is fitted with a 3.5w warm white LED and integral DMX control, which enables the exact tailoring of the lighting scheme to respond to the differing textures and forms of the individual and collective solids that make up the artwork.