The Lighting Practice of Philadelphia was approached by Amtrak to highlight the 30th Street Station during the DNC 2016 event. The Lighting Practice commissioned Starlite Productions of New Jersey to form a collaboration in order to create a lighting spectacle.
Furthermore, the Centre City District of Philadelphia commissioned the team to light up the iconic clock tower of Philadelphia's City Hall - equally for the duration of the DNC.
The initial brief for the 30th Street Station project entailed lighting up the large windows on the east and west side of the station but the scope elaborated to include the east portico, which is highly visible from the city center. Amtrak requested a patriotic colour scheme while keeping in mind the Democratic party's brand and visual identity.
The 16 P-5s were mounted on support poles about 50ft away from the east portico facade and provided the colour base of deep, saturated reds and blues for the display. On the clock tower project, Starlite placed 10 additional P-5 units on the rooftop of City Hall to again provide the colour base of reds and blues. The control was located four blocks away and transmitted wirelessly to the City Hall rooftop.
As the installations had to run for more than two weeks, Starlite had some concerns regarding the outdoor performance of lighting equipment. Jason Danowitz, Starlite's vice president of event Technology, wanted weatherproof fixtures that would also offer high-impact fixtures. For this reason, he decided to spec SGM P-5 fixtures for the project:
"The P-5s are built really well. They offer the output I was looking for and the long-throw lens options are great! The IP65-rating is a must."
And to the team, the P-5 fixtures proved a worthy investment as the weather over the course of the two weeks ranged from brutal thunderstorms to intense heat. "The P-5 units performed flawlessly throughout the DNC 16. We didn't have a single issue," Danowitz said.
(Jim Evans)
