"I was absolutely delighted to be involved again with Henley and especially with its 70th anniversary," said Phil, who gained an MBA at the business school.
They were looking for a big wow factor, so Phil demonstrated the CORE ColourPoint up-lighter and immediately suggested lighting the front façade of the main grade II listed Greenlands building.
The striking 19th century country house, once the home to son of famous stationery brand founder William Henry Smith (WH Smith) is conveniently finished in white stucco which is ideal for taking light so it was an obvious choice for creating that initial impact for guests.
Phil further suggested that the inside of the dining hall could be highlighted in warm white tones for the gala dinner, enhancing the atmosphere and mood.
In turn, he suggested they contact rental and installation specialist, Wireless Lighting, who supply wireless and LED products for numerous event and entertainment applications, and have a large inventory of CORE fixtures.
Thirty ColourPoints - popular for their quick deployment, long battery life, high quality homogenised and even output - were utilised in total.
Twelve were deployed around the porticoed entrance and all down the length of the Greenlands building, highly effectively illuminating it in the distinctive signature blue of the Henley Business School logo.
The other 18 ColourPoint units were positioned around the dining hall, up-lighting architectural columns and other features, with some ensconced in recesses grazing up the floor to ceiling windows. It looked stunning, creating a pleasant, warm white glow which elevated the feel and vibe of the evening from that of a standard gala dinner to something altogether different, more exciting and vibrant.
Phil additionally loaned a couple of CORE Flood30 floodlights to light two large trees at the entrance and provide some extra impact to arriving guests.
"It looked absolutely beautiful and achieved the exact results we wanted," commended Nikki, adding that the speed and efficiency of the set-up was also noteworthy.
Emma Perrin from Wireless Lighting said, "It was a real pleasure to work with such great architecture. Enhancing it with light was interesting and required a lot of attention to detail in terms of fixture placement, but that was all part of the challenge and reward of the project."
Most on the high profile guest list - which included a selection of highly successful entrepreneurs, management executives, captains of industry and alumnae - noticed the lighting and Nikki and her team received numerous compliments on the presentation and ambience.
(Jim Evans)
