Luckey Climbers Brings Dynamic Light to Kid’s Playground with ENTTEC
At Carmel Clay Parks & Recreation’s Monon Station Indoor Playground, 66 ENTTEC OCTO controllers bring a revolutionary climbing structure to life. Each platform glows and shifts with dynamic color patterns, creating ever-changing playgrounds where light becomes part of the play experience—representing Luckey Climbers’ most ambitious LED-integrated installations to date.
| Client | Luckey Climbers |
| Type | Entertainment |
| Location | Indiana, USA |
| Products | OCTO, ELM |
| Year | 2025 |
| Project credits | Lighting Infrastructure: Brooks Gotham Lighting Designer: Peter Fulweiler Project Manager: Dana Peterson Steel Installer: Nate Johnson Founder/Designer: Spencer Luckey Photography: Scott Hargis Videography: Mead Franz |
Founded in 1985 by Thomas Luckey, Luckey Climbers has created over 80 unique climbing structures worldwide, from Singapore to Moscow. The company has become renowned for pushing engineering boundaries—like their Providence Children’s Museum climber that balances entirely on a single ball, or their gravity-defying Liberty Science Center installation that cantilevers into a multi-story atrium. Under Spencer Luckey’s leadership since 2006, the company has increasingly integrated dynamic LED lighting into their designs, transforming their signature sculptures into glowing landmarks.
At Carmel Clay Parks & Recreation’s Monon Station Indoor Playground, the project was brought to life by a skilled team including Brooks Gotham (lighting infrastructure), Peter Fulweiler (lighting designer), Dana Peterson (project manager), and steel installer Nate Johnson.
Gotham specifically requested ENTTEC’s OCTO controllers for this ambitious build, giving kudos to the OCTO for their ability to handle such a large-scale system. His confidence in ENTTEC’s controllers underscored not only their reliability but also how naturally they fit into Luckey Climbers’ design vision.
As Spencer Luckey explained: “Children deserve sophisticated design. When a child climbs one of our Luckey Climbers, they are not only playing—they are engaging with structure. They are becoming co-authors of the environment.” Spencer noted that incorporating programmable lighting gave the team a new way to express their creativity—further expanding the possibilities of what an interactive playground can be.
Solution
Controls.
Powered by ELM (ENTTEC LED Mapper) software and 66 x OCTO
Lights.
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The installation, completed in just six weeks, features 66 ENTTEC OCTO pixel controllers—one for each climbing platform—alongside ENTTEC’s LED Mapper (ELM) software. The LEDs are recessed directly into each platform, allowing the structure to glow with evolving playlists of color and movement that kids respond to in real time. Every platform is powered by its own OCTO controller, all mapped together in ELM.
This setup gave the team the freedom to treat each panel as a building block while still designing cohesive, large-scale lighting looks that transform the climber into a living canvas. Dynamic lighting isn’t just a decoration here—it’s part of the play itself. Patterns shift and moods change, encouraging imagination and exploration on every visit.
From their 29,000-square-foot facility in New Haven, Connecticut, Luckey Climbers handles every stage of the process in-house—from digital design to fabrication. Their custom platforms, crafted from wood or durable rotomolded plastic, are designed for safety, strength, and visual impact.
With a philosophy rooted in constant innovation, they continue to integrate dynamic LEDs into their climbing experiences—a principle that guided this installation from concept to completion. The structure’s layered pathways, clear sightlines, and luminous platforms reflect the city’s investment in safe, inspiring, and imaginative public spaces.
Photography by Scott Hargis and videography by Mead Franz captured the opening moments, documenting the wonder on kids’ faces as they experienced the glowing climber for the first time.
Result
Spencer Luckey
President of Luckey LLC
“It’s not just a play unit—it’s a sculptural centerpiece, designed in conversation with the architecture around it.” With ENTTEC’s OCTO controllers and ELM software at its core, this climber will continue to evolve with new lighting looks and moods for years to come, ensuring it remains as inspiring and playful as the day it opened.
