042 REPORT
HOME
Company: LED Projects Location: Lincoln, UK
Back in 2004 LED Projects’ Ian Kirby provided an imaginative state-of-the-art LED and scanning / moving dancefloor effect for a new multistorey nightclub in Lincoln. Although the club later closed, Kirby maintained his relationship with the owner, John O’Donoghue, and when he was contacted again at the beginning of summer 2011, it was with a far more ambitious project in mind. With Peter Marks, former supremo of Brook Leisure, joining O’Donoghue’s com- pany (Redmed Leisure) as Chairman, securing funding from a venture capitalist trust, it has enabled the operations team to invest £3 million in redeveloping a 1630-capacity complex on the same site - this time under the ‘Home’ umbrella. Tasked with providing a sustainable, next-generation lighting infrastructure the LED Projects MD has again risen to the challenge. Kirby has used technological advancements to deliver some major customised high-impact effects, which are then animated with new cutting-edge lighting software. In its new conception, the entire building has been redeveloped from the basement up, providing the owners with six different rooms and two outside smoking terraces - all individually personalised by interiors specialist Graham Taylor of Easy Design Solutions. Originally conceived as a NAAFI (Navy, Army and Air Force Institute), and opened by Prince Philip in 1952, it is the old ballroom on the second floor which today serves as the main dance room. And it is here that LED Projects have LED-ani- mated a stunning LED-lit glass rod chandelier centrepiece, which is based on a grand Las Vegas hotel. “This was John O’Donoghue’s idea,” Kirby explained. “The design features strings, wired with glass beads. He then wanted us to come up with a product to interact with the glass.” The LED Projects team responded with interest, designing a bespoke 104 one- metre long pixel stick chandelier, loaded with RGB LED’s at 32mm pixel pitch - all DMX driven by Madrix software supplied by inoage in Germany. With DVI- and DMX-based output, LED Projects used the powerful DMX512 ca- pabilities of Madrix to drive the LED chandelier with the aid of a ShowCAD Artist. For the 3D mapping of the chandelier, inoage created a special 2D patch; this provides the basis of the 3D mapping and addresses each LED pixel individually. In addition, custom scripts were programmed for the Madrix Script engine in order to create genuine 3D lighting effects, such as 3D waves or 3D bars. At the same time, 2D objects are transformed into 3D with the help of advanced programming techniques. All effects are rendered in real-time, and consequently, the LJ can easily manipulate all visuals in speed, colours, brightness, direction, and much more, while a touch screen monitor is used at Home to quickly access Madrix ef- fects on the fly. “Thanks to this custom 3D mapping, we can chase in both the vertical and horizon- tal planes,” said Ian Kirby. “It’s the first 3D effect of its kind in a venue and since
www.mondodr.com
this is an entirely bespoke solution we can manufacture these sticks to any length.” Meanwhile, six SGM Idea Scan 250, four Idea Beam 300 and six Idea Wash 575 heads, mounted on a custom grid surrounding the floor, interact with the chande- lier, scattering saturated colour and spraying gobo patterns across the floor. The other dancefloor treasure to be found in The Main Event - as the main club is known - is SGM’s groundbreaking new X-5 LED white strobes. The first strobe on the market to break from the tradition of a xenon light source, and thus far more energy efficient and versatile. While one pair of X-5’s are positioned high on the balcony, which overlooks the dancefloor, the other two send high speed flashes from the opposite end of the room, in front of the stage. It is these that have got Home’s experienced resident LD Richard Whiteley so animated. Runner up in the National Light Jockey of the Year contest as far back as a decade ago, he has worked with just about every generation of strobe. “But I couldn’t wait to get my hands on these, and I can see what the fuss is about,” he enthused. “This presents an entirely new way of strobing in a much more compact energy efficient package.” Wherever possible, Ian Kirby has avoided using off-the-shelf solutions. Further evidence of inventive thinking can be found in the basement Studio - a retro New York-style club, evoking the Studio 54 / Saturday Night Fever era, where Madrix is again at work driving a sound-activated underlit matrix dancefloor under a LED half mirrorball ceiling, using the same principle as the chandelier, three floors above. The floor itself is based on a cross beam, wooden sub-frame, routed to take the glass surface and cut to an unusual shape to fit the dancefloor. With two layers of toughened glass under a diffuser, the LEDs concealed in each of the 500mm x 500mm panels are driven individually on their own DMX channels while Madrix takes an audio input to create a sound-to-light effect. The colours and sequences are outstanding. “This creates a far greater dynamic than just a standard Rubic’s Cube of colour,” stated Kirby. Richard Whiteley’s full armoury of automated effects in both the nightclub areas are under ShowCAD Artist master control, with light, sound and control installed by Over Audio of Liverpool. Elsewhere, LED Projects have created environmental colour changing in the ground floor Lounge Bar & Kitchen - and throughout the club Ian Kirby has installed DMX-based Art 4E RGB controllers (resembling iPods) in the wall. “The bar managers can control the colour mix presets locally, whether static or moving, on back bar bottle risers, bar frontages and ceiling panels,” noted Kirby. “Over one kilometre of RGB LED strips have been utilised in total.” This provides the venue not only with a sense of 21st century cohesion - but also a good deal of swagger. Once they have consolidated Home, Redmed Ltd say they will look at further op- portunities for growth.
www.led-lites.co.uk
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168