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Lighting designer: Barry Webb &
Associates
Lighting supplier: Lightmoves Pty Lt
Equipment: 4 CityColors
101 COLLINS ST Melbourne Landmark Lit in
Style
Barry Webb & Associates, who specialize
in lighting consultancy and electrical engineering, were recently commissioned
by 101 Collins Street, Melbourne to relight the mast on top of their building.
The interesting factor about the job is that architectural lighting products
were mixed with theatrical techniques to achieve a look that would normally only
be seen in a theatrical environment.
Due to the environment, all products had to have a long life lamp. Several
products considered had to be abandoned because they did not have a suitable
lamp life, even some fittings with a high IP rating.
Over a period of time, many trials were undertaken and, eventually, a final
image consisting of three elements was chosen: mast floodlighting, neon outline
and neon spire features. The two existing floodlighting systems were incapable
of illuminating the entire mast structure and so the two 30 meter spires were
not visible at night. It was decided to place four CityColor floodlights,
supplied by Lightmoves Pty Ltd, at the bottom of the mast to light its lower
section. Cost of lamps was a major consideration and the CityColor uses a long
life standard architectural lamp available from multiple suppliers.
"The CityColors were new to the market, a floodlight that offered full color
mixing was ideal," said Roger Farley, Project Engineer for Barry Webb.
"They were appropriate for the base of the mast and they were priced
competitively. They've performed well." Also at the bottom are four Siemens
2kW Sports Compact floodlights which are mounted behind Showcraft Architectural color
changers. Each color changers houses six motorized trays, five of which contain colored
glass and one of which is a blackout.
On the top deck, lighting the inside of the
two spires, are four WE-EF 250W FL10 floodlights with scaled-down versions of
the Showcraft color changers mounted on the front of them.
To complete the composition and define the top of the mast, a glow of blue light
is provided at the top of each of the mast spires. Neon technology from TS&L
Neon in Melbourne is used for this, where a specially designed structure has
been developed to encase the neon and allow for ease of installation.
Phase three of the project is yet to be completed - to provide a sense of
continuity and attachment of the mast to the building, the plantroom structure
immediately below the mast will be outlined with a continuous neon strip running
along the top edge of the plantroom and down each corner of the structure. This
lighting will help create the vision of a pedestal on which the floodlit mast
structure will sit.
The control system had to have all the usual levels of control that is required
for an Architectural control system, such as Photo Electric Cells to switch on
and off with the outside light levels. It also had to be integrated with the
existing building management system. Additionally it had to control DMX 512
controlled light fixtures, and had to be able to be programmed and updated
remotely.
"For example, the initial programming
sessions were done in a building 4 city blocks from 101 Collins St" said
Braham Ciddor of Lightmoves Pty Ltd. "For the Midsumma Gay & Lesbian
Festival the building owners requested that the color be changed to pink. The
new color was programmed from the Lightmoves offices in Hawthorn. The Dynalite
system that was installed was the most cost effective of the limited number of
commercially available systems that could do all that was required. The
advantage of this system is that as the later stages go ahead additional
products can be added in with a building block approach."
Some initial monitoring of the system during the early stages including checking
switch-on times and sequence programming was done via a web cam that is actually
mounted on the tower of 101 Collins.
"At http://webcam.omni.net.au, at the
extremities of the camera's movement, we are able to see if the lights are on
and what color they are in," explained Braham Ciddor. The electrical
contractors for the project were Brolec.
CITY COLOR™
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