Commissioned by Caesars Entertainment in 2009 with an overall vision to change the Las Vegas skyline with a new iconic landmark, construction on the world's tallest observation wheel began. On the lighting side of this extravagant architectural project, NYXdesign teamed up with Martin Professional, systems integrator 4Wall Entertainment and electrical contractors Bombard Electric.
The installation includes 1,120 Tripix 300 fixtures, 1,008 Tripix Wash fixtures, 560 Tripix Power IP66 power supplies and four MAC Viper fixtures.
"Working with Henrik Kristensen from Martin and the rest of the team was very rewarding," said Buddy Pope, senior systems project manager, 4Wall Entertainment. "We had to make sure everything would be able to withstand being turned upside down every 30 minutes over and over again. Also, everything had to be designed down to the last hole before we were able to test anything. Martin's willingness to come up with customized solutions was a key success factor in these early stages."
"The amount of time we spent and the level of detail we worked with in the mockup stage really was worth it," said lighting designer, Abigail Rosen Holmes. "It allowed us to know the choices we were making would work as we intended when installed. This information had to be carried through to the drawings, and eventually construction, as it would not be possible to adjust the fixtures' mounting positions."
One major challenge that had to be considered in the early stages of the project was to accommodate the user experience from both inside the cabins and from various angles and viewing distances make the lighting design successful from every possible perspective. The Tripix products were chosen because at the time it was the only fixture on the market with a converged light source, also known as a tri-colour chip, meaning that when you look directly at the light source you only see the colour that the fixtures is programmed to show. As visitors would be able to see directly into the light source from the cabins, a traditional RGB light source was not an option.
"Apart from the difficulty in getting to the fixture locations, our involvement was a 'bolt-up' and 'plug and play' installation of a well-designed lighting system," said Mike Gurule, Bombard Electric. "It is clear to us that Martin places a high emphasis on quality control."
The guidelines for the lighting design was that it had to respect the beauty and simplicity of the structure while at the same time embracing its kinetic qualities. In contrast to a lot of Las Vegas lighting, the design for the High Roller was not meant to be flashy and carnival-like.
"The vision of everybody involved allowed me to treat the object very simply, because in its pure form the structure is extraordinarily beautiful," said Holmes. "They had this clear idea and vision and were very consistent on keeping it all the way through."
(Jim Evans)
