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Converted from a former colliery, The Earth Centre is a
£42million, National Lottery-funded Millennium Landmark project designed
to promote ecology and the principle that it is up to all of the people
living on Earth to look after our planet. The park’s 400 acres include
interactive structures that allow visitors to become more closely
connected to the planet, pathways lit by solar-powered lighting and zones
such Earth Arena, Wilderness and Nature’s Works. There’s even the Water
Works, a facility which processes all of the human waste generated
on-site.
The centrepiece of the Earth Centre, though, is the Planet Earth Gallery. One of the first thing a visitor passes on their way into the Centre the Gallery appears to protrude from the hillside, this design allowing for natural thermal insulation. But as visitors enter the Gallery all thoughts of the outside world are banished as they are transferred into a dark, brooding space which is somehow menacing and exciting all at the same time. As their eyes adjust they move around and find themselves facing monolithic glass screens, containing friezes of what seem like pre-historic creatures frozen in time and space. They move on and soon realise that the environment is changing around them: the central eight glass blocks are on a forty-foot diameter revolve that completes one revolution every 23-minutes, constantly displacing visitors who walk on to the revolve and, some time later leave by what they think is the same route. Around them the lighting changes constantly, shifting slowly to light the monoliths from one direction or another to hide or reveal objects through the half-mirrored glass then suddenly changing tempo to a ranging battle or dramatic seascape or raging fire before eventually settling down to a calm elemental state once again. As the lighting changes so does the expressive, dominant soundtrack and the abstract video projections. The people moving through the Centre often do not even realise that they are controlling these changes, their movement tracked by motion sensors that decide where to take the lighting and soundscape next. If they’re lucky, they’ll trigger the Erskine sequence: a huge moving prism that takes the light from two white Xenon sources or - on sunny days - sunlight directed in through the roof and splits it into a spectacular rainbow that is then guided across the room. The effect is stunning. The Planet Earth Gallery was designed by 30/70 Productions, an informal group of designers in all disciplines from all over the world led by Bruce Odland. The team’s lighting designer is Don Holder, perhaps best known in this country for his Tony-award winning design for Disney’s The Lion King, which is soon to open in London. Holder’s design was a mixture of theatrical- and architectural-based elements, with over 300 assorted PAR downlighters, most fitted with egg-crate masks to minimise distraction from the lightsource itself, uplighting and downlighting exhibits and providing the low-level background ambient illumination. ETC Source Four profile spots were then used to light elements that needed precise illumination, such as the outlines of the glass monoliths (-their low power requirements no-doubt appealing to the environmentally-conscious Earth Centre management), with High End Dataflash strobes then used for lightning and other effects. Overhead a twisting, rusted steel gantry tops the exhibit and is lit with PAR cans, floodlights and fluorescent tubes, which chase along the length of the hall in the spectacular air-raid sequence. White Light were delighted to be chosen as the lighting contractors for the Gallery, not only supplying the equipment but also installing and commissioning the rig then working with Don Holder and his associates to focus and program the lighting. In London this involved the close co-operation of the White Light Sales Department with Modelbox, who handled all of the plans as they were received in electronic format from Holder’s New York office, and then with The Service Company and with White Light North. A White Light team led by production electricians Simon Needle and Paul Maloney were on site for a total of three months, during which time they hung the rig, moved the rig as parts of the design evolved, installed 150 ways of Strand LD90 dimming, commissioned the DMX control network then focused the rig and programmed the ETC Express 250 lighting console that Holder had specified. This involved not only creating the lighting states and chases but also plotting the movement of the Erskine mirror and then linking the console to the Conductor show control system which receives triggers from the motion sensors in the hall and then fires the correct audio, video and lighting sequences via. MIDI. The Planet Earth Gallery opened with the rest of the Earth Centre on April 2nd this year, to immediate acclaim from all who have visited it. As Don Holder returned to the States he declared himself more than happy with White Light’s service. Similar comments have been made by Jon Beales, who is now responsible for running the technical side of the Gallery and who has appreciated both White Light’s support throughout the creation of the gallery and its prompt response to the inevitable minor teething problems since its opening. We enjoyed being there! And we
hope to be back soon, as the Earth Centre starts on its second phase: the
spectacular Ark that has been attracting acclaim from architectural
pundits even before being built! |
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