HELSINKI, Finland – Over 100 Robe CitySource 96 LED wash fixtures were used to illuminate Helsinki's 2009 Light Season, which lit up the Finnish capitol's Parliament House and the Council of State and University buildings. Mikki Kunttu designed the lighting for both sites, expanding on his design last year for Senate Square. Kunttu, who chose the sites for their prestige and visibility, also specified the recently-launched Robe CitySource 96 fixtures, supplied rental company Moving Light via Robe's Finnish distributor Live Nation Finland. He has used Robe gear previously, and cited the brand's reliability as a factor.
The CitySource units are equipped with 96 Luxeon Rebel LEDs, which give a light output designed for exterior installations such as this. The homogenized lightsource provides smooth and even coverage, and the fixture is cased in a compact IP65-rated aluminum housing.
Kunttu used 56 CitySource 96s for the front and the most visible side fascia of the Parliament House, which opened in 1931. The 75 meter-wide front has a series of 14 pillars running up to its roof and 46 steps at its base.
The fixtures were rigged on floor stands positioned close to the walls and columns, up-lighting the 25-meter-tall building.
"It's always great to use the latest technology, and these fixtures are simply amazing – the power and the colours are incredible, they had no trouble at all in reaching the top of the building, and are the best LED fixtures I have used to date for an architectural application of this nature," Kunttu said.
Another 50 CitySource 96s lit the two main buildings in Senate Square surrounding the Cathedral, which itself was lit with a video projection.
Rental company Moving Light is expected to replace its current color changing units with the energy-efficient Robe fixtures, which have proven to be both reliable (withstanding snow, winds and freezing temperatures) and energy-efficient.
"We had absolutely the worst weather this year – temperatures of between minus 5 to 30, and constant snow," Kunttu said. "The transport systems all ground to a halt, but as for the CitySources, we just cleared off the snow if they were buried – and they kept on rocking."
For control, the Parliament House lights – which also included some Biglites and Barco/High End Systems ShowPix – were programmed into a cue stack on a grandMA light console.
At Senate Square, everything was programmed into a grandMA full size, and the rolling show was triggered by timecode from the accompanying soundscape.
After seeing the initial results, the city of Helsinki opted to extend the Parliament House installation from six to nine days, with the idea being that the Helsinki Light Season would become an annual New Year event.
It is expected to expand next year to include light works and commissions by other artists and contributors and also incorporate other types of non-architectural light shows across the city.
For more information, please visit www.robe.cz
