Middle East Patio

The Middle East Patio is a permanent light art installation created for The Middle East Restaurant and Nightclub, the historic live music venue in the heart of Cambridge's Central Square Cultural District. Developed in collaboration with master woodworker Irene Ferri Designs and partially funded by a COVID recovery business grant from the City of Cambridge, the project transformed the venue's patio on Massachusetts Avenue into a vibrant public gathering space as part of its post-pandemic revival.

Irene designed and fabricated the patio's custom woodwork structure — including a series of arches inspired by the geometric patterns of Middle Eastern art and architecture, a nod to the venue's namesake — and I created a pixel-mapped canopy of light woven throughout it. The installation features over 1,000 individually-addressed LEDs driven by custom hardware built on a BeagleBone single-board computer, with generative patterns designed in xLights and Resolume Arena that illuminate the patio nightly on an automated schedule.

Building a permanent outdoor installation meant engineering for year-round New England weather. I specified IP-rated fixtures, built a custom waterproof enclosure for the control electronics, and fabricated steel-cable rigging that integrates directly into Irene's woodwork — a system that has now weathered three years of snow, rain, and summer crowds without missing a night.

Since opening, the installation has become a featured attraction of the venue and a frequent Instagram selfie spot in Central Square — a small piece of civic infrastructure that invites passersby to stop, gather, and share a bright moment of joy on Mass Ave.