'Glorious to see': Canberra's llumicube lights up again

The lights went out on the iconic cube in 2017 because the then sound-activated artwork was, apparently, not reacting too well to the "cacophony of car horns late at night" and the noises of rowdy late-night revellers.

But it's back. Brighter than ever.

The lights of Illumicube - outside the Canberra Centre on the corner of Ainslie Avenue and Cooyong Street - were officially turned back on Thursday night.

The cube, which is no longer triggered by sound, instead has a new lighting system that can be changed remotely.

To allow for the greatest range of lighting programs and patterns, it was decided to install individually programable LED lights for every glass brick, a total of 570 lights.

This will allow the coloured lighting to be changed to coincide with community events and celebrations or for raising awareness to various causes.

Illumicube will be lit up in green and gold at various times during the Paris Olympics.

This work, created in 1988, was presented to the people of Canberra to commemorate 25 years of electricity supply. The colour of the light originally changed in response to sound.

Forge Construction was engaged to carry out repairs to the structure of Illumicube.

This included replacing all cracked and broken glass bricks, regrouting the entire structure and sealing the grout. They also cleaned and polished the stainless-steel edging and sealed all joins with silicon.

Illumicube's creator, Kerry Simpson, was back in Canberra on Thursday to see the lights return. Now living in Brisbane, he was the senior standards lighting officer working for the ACT Electrical Authority (ACTEA) when he was seconded to the social committee to come up with an anniversary gift to the community.

The ACTEA logo was a triangle and Kerry initially considered a pyramid but was concerned about people running up and over the pyramid, potentially doing damage to the artwork and themselves.

A cube was settled on and it originally sat off London Circuit opposite Civic Square before it was moved across Civic to the other side of the Canberra Centre.

"It is glorious to see it come back to life," he said.

Mr Simpson was joined at the re-commissioning of the work by his daughter who still lives in Canberra, Melissa Warylo, son-in-law Michael Warylo and grandchildren Matilda and Mikaela Warylo.

"It's great to see my grandchildren enjoy the cube now in the same way my children did," he said.

Mr Simpson said the cube now worked as he originally planned - with each glass brick individually lit, but technology was not so advanced almost four decades ago.

Canberra Centre general manager Gary Stewart was also thrilled to see Illumicube operational again.

"Later this year, we will introduce new landscaping, complete with additional seating around the Illumicube, creating a vibrant and welcoming space for everyone," he said.