The Visitors' Centre is an initiative of the Brisbane City Council, Rivercity Motorway and LBBJV Consortium who, as part of Queensland's largest Public Private Partnership (PPP), has created a state-of-the-art information centre for Brisbane residents and visitors. The Centre features artist impressions, models of the finished tunnels, maps, photography throughout the construction and short construction videos.
Brisbane-based Iceworks Design was given only seven weeks to design the centre from initial concept sketch through to finished project. The predominant feature in the centre is the map wall that has touch screens and an RGB LED component through it that shows the alignment of the tunnel itself with lights; as the project progresses the LED's light up mapping the path.
"The position of the tunnel boring machines will show up in red, the completed excavations behind them in green and the remaining alignment in front of them in blue," explained Jason Raft, managing director of Iceworks Design. "We also have Selecon light fixtures for displays and five Pro Shop LED tiles in the theatrette roof to enhance the tunnel structure."
Control for the lighting is courtesy of a Pharos LPC1 architectural controller, an LSC ePRO dimmer and LSC ePlate control panels. The LPC1 is a complete DMX lighting console in a compact DIN rail-mounted box. It includes the unique ability to be remote programmed over the internet via the standard ethernet port located on the bottom of the unit. This allows easy reprogramming from the Iceworks office as the clients requirements change over the construction of the tunnel. The LSC ePlate control panels connect directly to the LPC1 to provide simple push button control of even the most complex DMX lightshows.
Jason chose to use the Pharos LPC1 primarily for the flexibility that it offered. "The technical specification from the client for the Centre was fairly loose so we basically engineered into the Centre itself a lot of room to move," explained Jason. "We had a look at a few other controllers but we liked the format and flexibility by which the Pharos LPC 1 programmed which is similar to the consoles we use everyday. It allows the ability to easily integrate other fixtures over a period of time. At the moment it's running at quite a basic level running dimmers and LED fixtures but further down the track it may take control of other feature pieces that may be included during the next four years.
"It's very simple to get your head around. Richie Mickan from LSC Lighting was very helpful in programming triggers for the ePlate and for on the spot phone assistance, overall as soon as you have used the offline editor once the system is very easy to use."
All lighting equipment and sales support came from David Nemeth at The Production Shop.
(Lee Baldock)
