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Great Xscape for LTP
Architectural lighting specialists Lighting Technology Projects have designed, supplied, installed and commissioned the first stage of a colourful new LED lighting scheme at the Xscape shopping and leisure complex in Milton Keynes.
Xscape, one of the busiest and highest profile retail and entertainment environments in the UK and a major destination in the consumers paradise of Milton Keynes, has been open for about five years.
Keeping ahead of rapidly changing consumer trends and wanting to stay at the cutting edge of the entertainment experience, owners X-Leisure approached LTP asking them to produce a plan to liven up and revitalise the environment with creative feature lighting.
LTP’s Terry Reeves took up the challenge in an environment already bright with a massive amount of ambient white lighting. He immediately saw the potential of 20 cosmetic ceiling ‘rafts’ running down the mall’s two main concourses. The cold cathode that had previously lit these was ripped out and replaced with over 1000 linear feet of Color Kinetics iColor Cove QL a low-profile, 12” (30.5 cm) unit with a 100° x 40° beam angle.
These fittings illuminate the rafts in a chasing sequence of vibrant colours, the LED more than holding its own despite the high levels of ambient lighting all around.
The raft lighting was programmed into a CK iPlayer 2 controller specified by LTP. This was chosen explains Reeves, as a compact and versatile multiple show storage and playback device. It has 16MB of on-board memory and accommodates a full DMX universe of 170 individual light addresses. One long show or multiple shorter shows can be created on Color Kinetics’ ColorPlay software. and quickly downloaded into the iPlayer 2 to keep shows up-to-date and constantly changing.
Next, Reeves and his team – who completed the whole installation in just eight full-on overnight sessions – turned their attention to the stairwell and escalators joining the two levels of the mall.
The escalator plant is encased in a large frosted glass panel in the centre of the two up and down sections, and this immediately suggested itself as a giant light box effect.
Reeves has strategically positioned 20 CK ColorBlast 12 wall washing fittings inside and outside this area to generate rich, uniform colours and colour changing effects.
The concealed fixtures inside the ‘box’ transform it into a giant illuminated feature as people traverse up or down the escalators. The resulting glints and hints of colour also catch and light up surfaces around the area as the fixtures chase though a rainbow pattern.
The remainder of the ColorBlasts in the area are exposed and bolted directly onto to the stairwell surfaces. They work in conjunction with the concealed units and also as a separate effect in their own right. Light from these bounces off the many metal and glass surfaces in the immediate vicinity, reflecting a myriad of colours and shapes around the stairwell, livening up what would otherwise be a very ordinary journey between levels of the building.
“I employed a similar lighting psychology to when I lit the escalator-well at the Cornerhouse complex in Nottingham,” says Reeves. “People are always surprised and fascinated by the unexpected – and getting bathed in colour changing lighting as you make the short journey between floors is an ideal way to build the general atmosphere, anticipation and excitement of the environment.”
The control between all three sections of the lighting scheme is synchronous and run off a single DMX universe into the iPlayer 2.
The new scheme is already a huge success and a vast improvement on the previous lighting. The second phase of the new installation will complete in time for the Christmas season, and includes large quantities of the new high intensity CK iColor Cove MX Powercore. This will be used to spectacularly light 10 internal columns, beacon style, running the length of the mall.
17th October 2005
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