O2 owners, AEG Europe, sought a new lighting scheme for the successfully revived multi-purpose venue. After an original lighting proposal proved cost prohibitive, Philips Lighting was contacted and their creative director Rowena Preiss tasked with creating a new solution based around the latest technology and energy savings.
Animation and colour wash schemes across the roof were subsequently proposed but the vastness of the structure made those solutions impractical. "We decided to concentrate the colour inside the masts which are fundamental to the design of the Dome," Preiss says. Although the original intent of the owners was to paint the truss type supports blue, the branding colour for the O2, that wasn't possible for reasons of code. Instead, Preiss chose to use the attractive and more versatile characteristics of dynamic light.
"The only IP65 luminaire powerful enough to light up the inside 50m of the masts in colour changing light was the Exterior 1200 Wash," Preiss comments. "We set them up in the rain and cold and it looked amazing; the client immediately made the decision that that is what they wanted. It was about having the latest technology and the best solution for the client, as well as the stability of a good brand, and Martin was the only company that could offer that."
The final lighting scheme for the roof is made up of three elements: lighting of the roof fabric in white floodlight; LED striplight rings on the masts (six per mast); and colour changing light inside the masts.
The 1200 watt Exterior 1200 fixtures are mounted just above the skin of the roof on top of air conditioning units, one fixture per mast. The Exteriors - a programmable IP65 rated luminaire with CMY color mixing system, full-range continuous dimming and uniform distribution of light and colour - were supplied directly to Philips by Martin UK. The fixture's zoom feature and narrow beam angle option allow for a controlled beam up the masts with little light spill.
"It was a relief to find adequate technology that I could offer to the client," said Priess, who worked on the original lighting of the O2 in 1998-99 (called Millennium Dome at that time). "It's such a key venue now in the UK it was important to offer a dynamic solution to enhance events without shutting down the national grid! High levels of accuracy and the latest technologies and the input of many experts, including Buro Happold, Philips Vidiwall, Philips LEDs and Martin Professional, culminates in a well-rounded solution sensitive to all aspects of the environment, through a thorough investigation of new scientific advancements both in light, image and control."
The result is a flexible system, dynamic yet tasteful. A sensitive mix of colour and white light, coupled with a sophisticated control system reveals London's largest landmark by night, both from the sky and the ground. Different colour schemes can be created to suit The O2's myriad of events and eye-catching effects like sweeps of color from mast to mast are possible. Lighting control is handled by a Pharos control system.
(Jim Evans)
