A David Rockwell-designed interactive light display in New York’s Winter Garden Atrium has opened, kickstarting a new seasonal tradition for Lower Manhattan based on the concepts of sharing, giving, community and light.

Luminaries takes the form of approximately 650 twinkling LED cubic lanterns, which are suspended in a cascading canopy from the ceiling of the 10-storey glass atrium, located within Brookfield Place – better known as the World Financial Center.

Three glowing, touch-sensitive Wishing Stations are positioned throughout the Winter Garden, and when touched they 'send a wish', beginning a wave display of flickering lights and colours that travel across the canopy of lanterns via capacitive technology.

“The interactive and collective act of wishing creates a communal and celebratory tradition,” said Rockwell Group in a statement. “Luminaries symbolises a reverence for downtown New York while bringing hopes for the future into a brilliant new light.”

For every wish made by someone, Brookfield Place will make a donation of US$1 to the Grammy Foundation – up to US$25,000 (€23,000, £16,500) – to fund musical education programmes in schools.

Choreographed light shows will be scheduled throughout the day and night, drawing visitors through Brookfield Place to the waterfront outside.

The installation will be disassembled in January, but is scheduled to make a reappearance every winter. The project was commissioned to complete the $250m (€230m, £166m) renovation of Brookfield Place, and was created in collaboration with cultural group Arts Brookfield,

Rockwell Group is known for its eclectic, surprising and varied design work, which spans restaurants, hotels, hospitals, museums, Broadway shows, playgrounds, airports and retail spaces.

In an exclusive interview with CLADmag, the group’s founder, David Rockwell, said: “More than anything, I believe design should be memorable. When I launched Rockwell Group I was driven by one thing – curiosity. That’s something that hasn’t changed. For me it’s about constantly recreating an environment in which you’re willing to not know the answer.”