The Ice House project in Germany was handled by production company Fact & Fiction. The structure was used to highlight the bank's mortgage products and services at trade shows including their Ideal Home Show. Mayall was working for UK-based JVC Events, who take care of the technical and logistical needs of all of the Ice Box's installations.
The Ice House was an 100 square metre single story building measuring 18 metres long by six metres deep and 3.7 metres high, and Mayall's task was to architecturally light the space - inside and out - in the client's blue and green corporate colours.
It was an obvious choice to go for LED light-sources - their low heat emissions making them ideal for illuminating the ice without melting it! Mayall and JVC's Vince Roper spent considerable time researching the effects different LED fixtures had on ice, and seeing how they reacted to freezing environments, before specifying 24 James Thomas PixelLine 1044 battens and 20 Pulsar ChromaFlood 2000s for the project. These were supplemented with a small number of fluorescent tubes.
When it came to choosing a console, Mayall wanted something simple, robust and reliable that could be left to run the show without needing constant attention. "The Pearl was ideal," he says. The Avolites console has also been operated in extremes of weather all over the world, and is known as one of the most resilient pieces of lighting control hardware on the market through heat, cold, snow, rain, water and wind! Other Pearl features which help in severe environmental conditions include the console's ability to kick back in where it left off in the event of power loss.
The Pearl was located in the 'Dog House' at the back of the Ice House, along with the dimmers. Although the temperatures weren't quite so extreme here, they were still very chilly!
In addition to the static colour looks and scenes illuminating the ice, Mayall also programmed some animation chases off the Pearl, the main one being a blue and green "breathing" sequence, which made the house feel alive.
(Chris Henry)
