More details from Chauvet Professional (www.chauvetlighting.com):
Like many houses of worship, Shri Krishna Vrundavana serves its members in a wide variety of ways. The faithful gather at its spacious 3.5-acre campus, which is located 33 miles from New York City, for the P?j? prayer ritual, services, holy festivals and meditation as well as more secular events.
Given the multi-faceted role the temple plays in its community, its leaders wanted a versatile lighting system that could adapt to their diverse needs. That’s exactly what LD Jason Ayala of Jason Blends (New York) provided them with, drawing on the flexibility of the COLORado Batten 72 Tour and Ovation F-165WW from CHAUVET Professional.
Ayala installed 15 of the COLORado units and seven Ovation fixtures around the stage in the 15,000 square foot house of worship. The COLORado fixtures were installed in the ceiling downstage as were three of the Ovation units. The four other Ovation fixtures were also positioned over the stage, one in each corner, to provide an even field of light.
Festivals are very important to Shri Krishna Vrundavan. All Hindu festivals like Ugadi, Deepavali, Krishna Janmashtami, Rama Navami, Madhva Navami, Navarathri, Shivarathri, Ganesh Chaturthi are celebrated at the temple. Mindful of this, temple leaders wanted a lighting system that would be able to match the various festivals and other activities that take place on the stage.
“Colorizing the stage was very important in this project,” said Ayala. “There’s an impressive cyclorama upstage,” said the LD. “The people at the temple wanted to be sure that the colors rendered by the fixtures we used would illuminate that cyclorama in the best way for any occasion.”
Powered by 72 calibrated red, green, blue, white and amber LEDs and with five dimming curves, the COLORado Batten 72 Tour wash fixtures were able to provide the color range, and depth that Ayala and his client were seeking. “They were blown away by the richness of the color,” said the LD. “We’re able to immerse the entire stage in different colors. Using white and amber LEDs really helps expand this fixture’s color rendering possibilities.”
Complementing the colorizing from the COLORado units is the warm white wash from the Ovation F-165WW fixtures. Although Ayala has used traditional incandescent tungsten Fresnel fixtures in the past, he was impressed with the performance of the Ovation fixtures.
“In my opinion, the Ovation worked as well as any Fresnel in terms of throw and the warmth of the whites,” he said. “My four Ovations on the ceiling are close to 20 feet from the front of the stage and the throw is perfect for providing a stage wash. In terms of the warmth of the white, it’s as good as any traditional Fresnel when you use a diffuser with a gel. We also installed barn doors on them for beam focusing.”
The significant advantage of the LED Ovation fixtures over older Fresnel, according to Ayala, is their cost savings. “With the Ovation product, the temple is getting all of the performance of the standard Fresnel, but there is a tremendous savings in terms of power draw and maintenance because it is an LED fixture,” he said. “Like any house of worship, this temple wanted economy to go along with the versatility and performance they needed. They’re very happy with what we did, because we gave them the complete package.”
