Declan Randall from Congo Blue worked closely with Montecasino's David Butcher to come up with an appropriate lighting design. Montecasino is a popular Tuscan/Italian styled entertainment and casino destination in Johannesburg. Pillars with wooden beams and greenery form part of the décor in the pit area, creating a vineyard feel, and Randall opted to illuminate the pillars with an LED solution.
The brief was to create a lighting scheme to enhance the area around Pit 1 and attract people's attention as they walked past, without simultaneously distracting the players.
Using the existing pillars as the focal point was an obvious choice as they are such a strong feature. "We wanted a lighting system that would be eye-catching, flexible, low maintenance and - naturally - energy efficient," confirms Randall.
The standard 'run' setting is primarily a subtle cross-fade from colour to colour with approximately 38 different colours programmed, however the system is capable of something much more 'flashy' if required.
The design and installation also allows for the lighting to be themed - red for Valentine's Day, green for St Patrick's Dayfor example, but in between any special events, the subtle cross-fading colour sequence runs continuously.
"Anolis fittings gave us the output that we needed in an attractive, compact fitting," says Randall. Some of the programming was done off-site, using offline lighting editing software, then uploaded to the control system at Montecasino, needing only a few minor tweaks before the handover to the client.
DWR Distribution made up custom mounting brackets for the 48 fixtures. With a limited window of opportunity for the installation to be completed on site, as much pre-preparation as possible was done, with the total install taking about 10 hours.
(Jim Evans)
