Conducted as part of the Pitt Honors College Creative Arts Fellowship during the Summer of 2020, The Campus Energy Constellation is a dynamic light installation that portrays the University’s energy usage as an array of stars. The piece is comprised of 84 lights – each representing a building owned and operated by the University of Pittsburgh – hung from the ceiling of a darkened enclosure to mimic a clear night sky. Each star is programmed to change in brightness corresponding to the energy usage of its respective building.

This project is being completed under the guidance of Pitt’s Director of Sustainability Aurora Sharrard, and in collaboration with the Mascaro Centor for Sustainable Development and the Pitt Facilities Management Department. The focus and goal of this project is to physicalize the environmental impact of the University community, in an effort to promote transparency between the Administration and it’s corresponding community of students and faculty on the matters of environmentalism.

Analysis and development of the built environment as they relate to sustainability, resource exhaustion, and social equity are my professional focuses. My previous work, conducted both in the private sector and in academia, fall very much in line with these, as do my professional goals. I have worked as a product designer of building technology, a data network creator and metrics analyst of building performance data, and as a graphic designer and artist. I hope to build on this professional experience by furthering my education with a graduate degree in architecture. The Campus Energy Constellation is fundamental to this goal as it is an example of my ability to creatively reconfigure a scope of work to pose progress within in a different context.

Jonathan (Jono) Coles is a Senior in the Swanson School of Engineering, pursuing a BSE in Civil Engineering with a Minor in Architecture Design. He is also a self taught barber and men’s hair stylist with upwards of 6 years of experience.