In collaboration with Light & Building 2002 – the world’s most important lighting and building automation fair – Luminale engineered some concrete examples of architectural lighting and orchestrated a “path of light” along the streets of Frankfurt, where light accentuated, enhanced and coloured a wide variety of urban settings.
Over 50 elements, including buildings, parks, squares, churches and museums, public and private buildings as well as historical and artistic monuments, were illuminated in the most imaginative ways using varied and innovative lighting technologies, confirming it as one of the most driving sectors in the lighting market. With Luminale, Frankfurt unfolded the present and the future, where “architectural” lighting is increasingly integrated into the fabric of our cities.
A large number of lighting designers, architects and specialist companies involved experienced this important undertaking, guaranteeing work of rare technical and artistic value. Luminale also attracted the attention of the inhabitants and numerous internal visitors, who witnessed Frankfurt transformed into a huge illuminated stage. A specially provided shuttle bus passed through the path of light from three in the afternoon to eleven o’clock at night, with regular “stops” in front of sculptures of light.
Clay Paky and the “TropiColors”
Clay Paky was one of the fair’s protagonists, furnishing several important projects with its projectors. The botanical garden in Frankfurt’s “Palmengarten” became “TropiColors”, an important old glasshouse highly coloured for the occasion by CP Color 400.
These colour changers, a result of Clay Paky’s cutting edge technology, offer a CMY colour mixing system which creates countless colours at programmable speed. Combined with music which pervaded the entire area, the colours formed a spectacular setting for hundreds of tropical plants. The huge glasshouse with its dome, the balconies overlooking the garden, the numerous paths for visitors and an illuminated fountain, formed a fascinating backdrop for the “TropiColors” project.
The lighting design, developed by Lighting Designers Mick o’Callaghan and Thorsten Zank (from the company Enjoy), together with Lights & Color by Paderborn (distributor of Clay Paky architectural products for Germany), included Chroma Panel, Chroma Dome, Chroma Bank and Chroma Strip by Pulsar. Immersed in new age music, everything was artistically crafted to the finest detail, combining light and nature as well as interior and exterior settings: the transparency of the glasshouse made the coloured light effects visible even from a considerable distance.
At the entrance to Tropicolors, 2 V.I.P. 300 DIA projectors from Clay Paky’s Display Line, specially designed for visual communication, projected luminous “posters” with information on the TropiColors-project and welcomed the visitors.
The other lighting projects in the “Palmengarten”
In the “Palmengarten”, Clay Paky colour changers made the beautiful villa facing the glasshouse blaze with colour; this perfectly conserved historical building has very white interior and exterior walls which were ideal for these light effects. The outdoor CP Color 150-E projectors (with an IP65 protection rating) were used for lighting the facade, while the CP Color 250 illuminated the interior. A wide path was lined with a series of SLV neon lamps up to 2 metres high, linking Tropicolors and the villa with one of Luminale’s most evocative lighting compositions.
Clay Paky and Saint Catherine’s Church
Saint Catherine’s Church was the setting for another very interesting Luminale project. Situated in Frankfurt’s famous pedestrian shopping area, this prestigious building was surrounded by a multitude of highly colourful, bright shop windows, drawing the attention of passers-by. To reverse this combination of lights, Lighting Designer Antonious Quodt decided to illuminate the church from the inside: this was the first stop in the “Lichtspende” campaign (=gifts of light), designed to give this purely commercial area a new lighting design, enhancing historical and artistic monuments.
The lighting inside the church, tower, was achieved using 8 Clay Paky CP Color 400, while the service-mainroom was equipped with ZumTobel-fixtures. This installation was made possible through the German Lighting Magazine “Highlight”.
“TROPICOLORS” PROJECT SPECIFICATIONS:
Lights:
13 Clay Paky CP-Color 400
3 Clay Paky CP-Color 150-E
2 Clay Paky CP-Color 250
2 V.I.P. DIA Clay Paky
20 Pulsar ChromaPanels
2 Pulsar ChromaDome
2 Pulsar ChromaBank
28 m Pulsar Chromastrip 20°
16 m Pulsar Chromastrip 90°
12 ChromaZones (Power Supplies)
1 MA grandMA
Lighting system supplier and project design: Lights & Color, Paderborn
Lighting Designers: Mick o’Callaghan, Thorsten Zank (Enjoy)
Site Coordinator: Ralf Köhler (Envide)
Programming: Peter Tacke
“KATHARINENKIRCHE” SPECIFICATIONS (SAINT CATHERINES CHURCH-TOWER)
Lights:
8 Clay Paky CP-Color 400
Lighting system supplier and project design: Lights & Color, Paderborn; ZumTobel Staff, Lemgo
Lighting Designers: Antonius Quodt/Light-Life