The artwork on top of Signal Hill by Sun International called the "Sunstar" is designed by Cape Town based artist Christopher(Chris) Swift and forms part of a project themed "the PharoX". It is a five storey high tetrahedron star shape that incorporates old fencing reclaimed from the Robben Island prison. The structure is lit by NTL Lemnis's Pharox LED strip, which uses approximately 22,600 individual light sources. This result is a spectacular cohesion of structure and light in the form of an "X" shape viewed from different angles, thereby serving as new beacon for the whole of Cape Town to see. At night the Illuminated structure is seen clearly by incoming aircraft, as well as citizen and visitors to Cape Town as far as 25km's away.
It is a major achievement from a sustainable energy and technology use perspective – the combination of using the low energy consumption, high performance and weatherproof Pharox LED strip lights with a completely off-grid PV generation platform engineered and provided by well-known Eldo Energy, enables the artwork to shine during night without consuming any grid supplied electricity, and with minimal impact on the surreal surrounding of Signal Hill.
