AF Lighting wraps Copenhagen's Culture Night in a light show 2015

Lighting design specialist ÅF Lighting has once again created the atmosphere of Culture Night 2015 from Copenhagen, through eleven different facilities, in which the effects of 134 Luminaires from the manufacturer SGM Lighting energized these spaces to offer an impressive glow of light over the Danish capital.

The Copenhagen Kulturnatten event (culture night) lights up the streets of the Danish capital every year. In its edition 2015, held last October, attendees were able to enjoy versatile light shows, in which he has collaborated once again ÅF Lighting in eleven of the city's facilities.

As Jasmine Van Der Pol explains, lighting designer at ÅF Lighting, “This year has been exceptional.”. We have had many different locations and also many clients to work for. Each site has had its own visual identity”.

The visual concept of these facilities has been, as Van Der Pol points out, very varied. “The Botanical Garden revolved around magic and poetry through light and sound. The lighting for El Jardín del Rey functioned as a guided tour through the park, while a storyteller revealed all that hedonistic past of the royal family, full of secrets, romances, temptations and desires”.

The installation at the Danish Architecture Center (DAC) “was based on the idea of ​​'building with light' -continues this designer-; an interactive project in which the public could build their own lighting scenes on the façade. For the art association Kunstforeningen Gl. Strand we create a living room atmosphere through projections inspired by chandeliers”.

For this project, This company has had suppliers such as FilmGear y Vigsø Light & Show Design, who were responsible for the supply of 134 signature luminaires SGM Lighting, including G-Spot moving heads, washes P-5, Q-7 flood blind strobe units, SixPack blinders, LT-100 Led tubes and also Palco projectors 3 and Palco 5.

Led, IP65 certification and light intensity

The choice of SGM lighting products answers, among other reasons, to “his live performance. They are powerful, They have good optics and are easy to use. We especially like the P-5 line. They are devices so intense that you can use them with the largest structures, the facades, the tallest trees, etc. G-Spot is fantastic too, since it is a very powerful image projector”, this designer emphasizes.

The ÅF Lighting team placed special emphasis on the positioning of the lights throughout the city. “The location of the devices is always very limited during the festival, but above all we wanted to ensure the comfort of visitors when visiting the spaces -continues Van Der Pol-. To achieve this, we had to position the luminaires in such a way that they would not bother people with direct impacts.. What you want is for people to see the effect, not the luminaries”.

In addition to the power and compact chassis, Two other factors were especially important to opt for SGM equipment were its LED source and its IP65 certification.. “We wanted to use colors in the event and have dynamic control over them,” he points out.. That's why we choose to use LED technology.. IP65 certification was also an essential requirement for all installations., except for the one on the roof at Nørreport Station. Nevertheless, The P-5 with its 43º lens were so effective that we decided to install them there as well”.

Challenges and timing

In a project of this dimension in different spaces, the challenges are part of it. One of the particularly important challenges for ÅF Lighting was the lighting of The Palm Greenhouse, in the city's Botanical Garden, due to its large size and the fact that the light had to be synchronized with the audio.

The company had the assistance of FilmGear and Sonic College students to solve this problem. “The palm tree greenhouse is very large, and we needed it to look good during the afternoon. We needed a lot of light, but also the right proportion so that the volumes could be noticed, as well as special nuances capable of creating visual interest”, remember this lighting designer.

The solution for this installation was based on P-5 washes, “which were fundamental thanks to their intensity of 23.500 lumens in just 8,9 Kg. of weight”, explica Van Der Pol, and in the combination with the LT-100 tubes “which helped recreate the shape of fireflies and different rain effects. Both products created wonderful poetic scenes”.