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Ten Alps Illuminates Battersea Power Station
Ten Alps Events, masterminds of the ‘Brightening Up London’ event for Orange in December, continued their penchant for illuminating landmark buildings by producing a spectacular visual show at Battersea Power Station.
The event was staged for the ARK charity fundraising dinner event attended by 750 guests seated in a transparent PVC-sided marquee. This was positioned adjacent to the charismatic Power Station building, with commanding views of one of London’s best known maverick structures.
Ten Alps project manager Anton Jeffery again decided on a combination of lighting and large format projection to create a magical ‘live’ visual sculpture for the evening. Ten Alps commissioned lighting designer Andy Grant to produce a dramatic, colourful scheme for the Power Station’s South face, and projection specialists E\T\C UK to undertake the projections.
The projection artwork was co-ordinated by Emma Williamson, working closely with E\T\C’s Ross Ashton. It started with a sunrise and went through many transformations incorporating a four-seasons cycle, ending with a six-minute visual finale in tandem with the lighting.
To achieve the correct projection throw distance onto the two relevant Power Station’s chimneys, the projection towers for the four PIGI 6kW machines had to be positioned ‘behind’ the marquee, and were built to a height of 9 metres to shoot over the top of its roof apex. This was one of the major technical and site challenges to overcome, and Ten Alps brought in Media Structures to build the special wind-resistant platforms. Projection was programmed and operated by Andy Murrell using a PIGI OnlyCue system.
With the chimney projections starting at some 30 ft up the building, Andy Grant filled the lower part of the two chimney façades with light from City Color MHD fixtures – four per chimney tower. The idea was to texture the Power Station with lighting effects during the projection cross-fades, as well as colouring it with light sources from a completely different angle to the projections.
The centre section of The Power Station is a mass of twisted, decaying ancient ironwork and shredded metal, which Grant decided to up-light for dramatic spooky shadow and silhouette effects. This was achieved with 10 Martin MAC 2ks – and looked stunning.
The lighting picture was completed with 11 Space Cannons, arranged in a ‘V’ shape, bridging the gap between the Power Station and the tent, with the open end of the V facing the tent. This positioning worked for a myriad of different effects, including creating impressions of distorted perspective, framing the power station for onlookers, and plenty of bold colour changing sweeps and beam patterns.
All lighting equipment was supplied by Essential Lighting. The show was programmed and operated by Phil Cole using a WholeHog II console located in a zip up tower next to the main tent.
The show was a huge success. Anton Jeffery comments: “We were delighted to be asked to take part in this project, not least because it gave us the opportunity to illuminate another of London’s most famous landmarks. The scheme was very well received and the blend between lighting and projection was fantastic.”
10th May 2004
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