LD Iain Reed Turns Sydney Icon into Interactive Artwork
Vivid is the winter festival of light, music and ideas, held around the harbor in Sydney, Australia; for 2013, it ran from May 24-June 10. Winter down under is surprisingly scheduled when it is summer in the USA. Vivid came about in the dying days of the previous state government, and was such a success that it has returned each year, bigger and brighter. It brings people to the city in the down season.
This year, the night lights have stepped up to a whole new level, with the entire huge Western arch of the Sydney Harbour Bridge wired up with LED by 32Hundred Lighting. Better still, festival-goers were able to program the display, changing color of roadway and arch elements from an interactive kiosk located at nearby Luna Park.
32Hundred founder Iain Reed came up with the creative idea and proposed it to Vivid, which is run by the state tourism body. His firm has been involved with the festival across its history. Vivid draws on creative ideas from other firms as well, with the sails of the Sydney Opera House used for massive graphic projections designed by Spinifex Group. There were interactive lighting displays across the city, drawing people into the city during the quiet winter period.
Once the contract was confirmed, Reed journeyed to Shenzhen, which is a hub for LED lighting manufacturers. He had relationships with several manufacturers and then commissioned an order for 2,000 1 meter long LED tubes. These have a custom power supply that is addressed by Art-Net.
The Work
32Hundred’s crew worked by day on the northern side of the arch, which is not accessed by the dawn-to-dusk public tourist attraction called BridgeClimb. However, the southern half of the arch, nearest the city, is devoted to the climb company all day and into the evening. Tourists climb the eastern arch, traverse and descend the western arch on the south half of the bridge continually, appearing as ants relative to the enormous structure, which is among the largest arch bridges on the planet.
To avoid interference with BridgeClimb participants, work on the city side took place after the climb closed at 7 p.m. The crew then worked for around five hours, with the complication of low light and swooping bats.
It was high-risk work, with a lengthy safety plan and all crew members wearing everything double-attached and working with empty pockets. They had to carry all the lighting elements up the endless ladders in custom-made backpacks, just like Sherpas on a mountain. “It was a bit of a mission,” says Reed, as an understatement. “It is potentially a very extreme environment, and [the need for] safety is paramount.”
The LED tubes were cable-tied to the structure — carefully, says Reed, as there can be no marks or damage to the structure. He estimates they used 20,000 ties. Ten crew members at a time did the work over a two month period before the festival.
Technology
32Hundred’s production manager, Martin Bevz, created the software for the touchscreen control system, which used a 55-inch screen at the kiosk at Luna Park, connected to a Mac. This addressed a Catalyst media server, which then sent Art-Net to the bridge along a very long fiber cable.
Reed is cagey about how that cable was routed, but happy he didn’t rely on wireless for the Festival dates. The programming used wireless, but the live dates had the surety of the fiber backbone.
The fiber ran on its secret path out of Luna Park, across a park and up the bridge to the first node, one of 14 GB network switches. From the switches, 8.5 kilometers (5.25 miles) of Cat6 cable ran to the devices — 2,000 tubes and 140 custom-made LED PAR Cans that lit the metal framework between the upper and lower arches.
Not much power was required — such is the joy of LED. The whole bridge consumed just 33,000 watts, supplied off 45 amp 3 phase that was run to 14 Cee Form power distro units. In all, 3.5 kilometers (2.1 miles) of Cee Form power cable was used on the bridge.
The Show
People lined up all over the waterfront to watch the city and the bridge light up at 6 p.m. — well after dark in winter. At exactly 6 p.m., the displays all fired up, and the bridge wowed the punters.
A line formed outside the kiosk as people made their way to the screen where a 32Hundred crew member would explain the possibilities. Being able to “paint” the bridge without using 72,000 gallons of paint was a big fun factor.
The display showed the bridge, and once the various color and movement combinations were chosen, the punter hit the GO button. Within seconds, the whole bridge changed color. The display ran across a two-minute timeline before restarting.
Aside from the bridge, 32Hundred also had LED strips across the Cahill Expressway road the sits above Circular Quay. These strips were running a display unrelated to the bridge.
32Hundred also lit the facades of ten high-rise buildings, using Philips ColorReach high power LED spotlights, some Clay Paky HP1500s and a 4.5K Biglite from Zap Technologies. All were addressed using a Passport wireless DMX system.
So what next? Reed says we are a creative industry, after all. Being able to conceive and sell an idea is everything, and 32Hundred has its focus on more large city outdoor lighting concepts, perhaps overseas.
