The tree, onto which color and traditional Maori designs are reflected using Martin Exterior 410 wash lights and Martin smartMAC image projecting moving heads, was the idea of Ignite Architects.

The company developed the concept of a 'heart' space, an interactive and engaging area to which people could gravitate, with Pou Manawa born from the view that much of the imagery symbolizing what New Zealanders hold dear is focused on trees.

The Exterior 410s, an RGBW colour mixing fixture with pre-mixed LEDs and an ideal luminaire for installations like Pou Manawa where the projection distance is short, provide a wash of color across the canopy.

Working with the 410s are smartMACs, a bright profile light and image projector with six indexable rotating gobos. The designs float across the complex patterned internal surface of the tree in a continuous 360 degree rotation.

Twenty-four smartMACs and a similar number of Exterior 410s are used in the installation, which runs 21 hours per day, 365 days per year. Programming was done on a Martin Maxxyz PC and Martin M1 console with initial design and renderings completed using the Martin ShowDesigner. All gobos are Apollo stock steel and glass or custom glass.

Six main themes are reflected through the 36-minute cycle of Pou Manawa: Ocean, Flax, Fern, Night Sky, Sunrise/Sunset and Pohutakawa. The designs were created by Kingi Gilbert and depict New Zealand carvings, nature and birds and relate to travel, flight, voyaging, movement across vast expanses, oceans, airways, guidance and hospitality.