PHILADELPHIA – For the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Starlite Productions of Moorestown, NJ and The Lighting Practice of Philadelphia, PA collaborated on a number of projects to enhance the look of Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station and City Hall. The lighting design for each landmark dictated a combination of powerful LED-wash lights as well as long-throw profile units for pattern projection of the various patriotic themed elements.
More details from Starlite Productions (www.starlite.com):
Two things were critical when specifying the equipment for the month long project – The lighting units had to be really impactful and they had to be weatherproof. That’s why Starlite’s VP of Event Technology, Jason Danowitz, chose SGM’s P5 High Performance outdoor LED wash units and Clay Paky Mythos fixtures housed in Clay Paky Igloo enclosures as the real workhorses of the design. The design also features an interior lighting package illuminating the east and west windows of 30th Street Station using dozens of Elation’s Color Chorus linear RGBA fixtures. For 30th Street Station the choice console was the ETC Ion and a full size grandMA 2 with an NPU processor for City Hall and Avenue of the Arts architectural system.
Supplying power to 30th Street’s glowing display was no easy feat as it required the boring of multiple 48″ deep holes into the roadway in order to reach the power source. City Hall also had its own challenges since the wireless DMX transceivers were almost a half-mile apart from the control room to the receiving point at City Hall.
Starlite was also able to take control of the existing architectural LED lighting system which runs along the Avenue of the Arts in order to coordinate the lighting looks and sequences with City Hall. The interconnected lighting systems created a beautiful radiant sight of red, white and blue down South Broad Street. The lighting displays have been widely praised by the media and are captivating visitors and Philly natives alike.
All the challenges aside, the team is ecstatic with how impressive the projects turned out.
The luminous display will be up for all city-goers to see from July 25th until Sunday, July 31.
