UK - Cornwall’s Eden Project has transformed an abandoned clay pit into a series of geodesic domes containing biomes that celebrate the rich diversity of nature. The nonprofit attraction drew 1.8m visitors within a year after it opened in March 2001.
This tribute to nature is still going strong, engaging visitors in compelling ways, just as it is doing this year with its Winter Holiday Shows, which take place at its different domes. Artfully designed by Glenn Gridley and his team at GLX Productions, the immersive displays ‘capture the mystical quality of the season when winter light and nature interweave in a timeless transcendent dance’.
Helping the design team achieve this transformative effect is a collection of Chauvet Professional fixtures run by two ChamSys control systems with two GeNetix GN10 rack mount nodes for data distribution.
"We have been doing this show for five years, and we have a good relationship with Eden Project," said Gridley. "Every year we strive to raise the bar, bringing new ideas to the design to enhance the experience of visitors."
This year, a collection of 24 Maverick Storm 1 Beam fixtures were key contributors to this more immersive environment in the Mediterranean Dome, a 0.654ha (1.6 acre) biome that houses warm weather and arid plants, such as olives and grapes. Taking advantage of the dome's 115ft height, Gridley surrounded a large mirror ball with kinetic winches and LED tubes, then used the bright output from the Maverick fixtures to create a variety of powerful looks.
Over at the Rainforest Biome, which houses tropical flora, such as fruiting banana plants, coffee, rubber, and giant bamboo, a collection of 10 IP65-rated Rogue Outcast 1L Beams are adding an engaging glow to the space. Positioned in the undergrowth of the rainforest, the high-output fixtures shoot beams out to small mirror balls, resulting in a dome-like effect of light through the canopy and onto the path.
Gridley and his team also deployed various Reve E3IP units for gobo projections with rotators at key points on the pathways down into the biomes. This draws the eyes of visitors to the magical displays on the ground as they journey through the biome.
Speaking of the lighting design approach, Gridley noted: "In the rainforest, we wanted strong vibrant colours contrasted with white beams of lights hitting the mirror balls. We wanted lots of LED string lights dropping 25m from the roof of the domes. Both uplighting elements and backlighting elements are key along with gobo work to add texture to the installation. Moving heads are key to adding movements to the space, since there is no wind indoors to rustle the trees and canopies."
Dark space also played a key role in the Eden Project Winter Holiday design. "With the rainforest you are taken on a journey between the different light installations, from the hanging jellyfish lights to the mirror balls, to the light strings hanging from the dome," explained Gridley.
The Timeline features of the ChamSys consoles have been essential to scheduling the programmed lightshows. Gridley and his team are using two different ChamSys systems, one for the 20-universe Mediterranean Biome show, the other at the 15-univere Rainforest show.
A massive undertaking, the Eden Project Winter Holiday Show required eight days of set-up time and involved 21,768 pixels, 12.1km of power cables, and 9.5km of control cables.
"The entire GLX team did an excellent job pulling this together," said Gridley. "When we finished our work, we could walk the full show for the first time and see all the elements coming together – it's a wonderful feeling."
