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SWI Lighting Helps Create a Work of Art For New York City's Time Warner Center
150-Foot Permanent Environmental Sculpture Uses Light and Color to Entrance All Who See It
February 28, 2005 — New York
The new 150-foot Prow Sculpture, which has been called a glowing nighttime exclamation point over Columbus Circle, is attracting attention at Time Warner Center, the headquarters of the media and entertainment giant. The environmental sculpture, which features three groups of 12 LED panels from Scharff Weisberg Lighting, is housed in an architectural glass prow where its array of lights, colors and patterns captivates New York City residents, passers-by and tourists alike.
"The sculpture is one of our most visible permanent installations," says Scharff Weisberg President Josh Weisberg. "It uses technology in a very subtle way, which is not often the case with public
installations. Its only goal is to be beautiful: It's not selling anything."
"This job was truly exceptional," adds producer David Rome who's RomeAntics Productions was responsible for the art installation's design and programming. "The Prow Sculpture holds a very prominent position in the city. We knew it would be great from the beginning."
Two years in the making, the 10-ton sculpture fabricated by Cinnabar is composed of strips of double-sided translucent polycarbonate panels, measuring 2 x 8 feet, 6 x 6 feet, and 4 x 12 feet and supported by a vertical 121-foot truss. Behind the polycarbonate panels are 36 LED panels from Scharff Weisberg that essentially act like custom light fixtures.
By day the sculpture has a light and airy form, appearing to float in its glass showcase. From 4 to 11 pm daily, the sculpture's panels are illuminated, via a control system from Scharff Weisberg, creating a series of transformative looks presenting unique views to all of Columbus Circle. The illuminated panels also serve as a Symbolic Clock pausing every 15 minutes to tell the time.
The fluid lighting design, by Ted Mather working with RomeAntics, follows themes inspired by New York City, the seasons and jazz improvisations. The lighting program is comprised of Progressions, slow rhythmic sequences which may include seasonal elements such as snowflakes and falling leaves which cascade down the sculpture's face; Interludes, static moments in time which suspend their colorful vignettes for 30 seconds before dissolving into the next color-filled moment; and the Symbolic Clock. The lighting slowly ascends, descends and weaves across the panels in three-minute programmed sequences. The production designer was Brian Webb.
Since lighting plays such a key role in the Prow Sculpture, "We began talking to Scharff Weisberg during the mock up phase," Rome recalls. "In designing the sculpture we kept in mind that, with its Columbus Circle location, each side needed to offer unique and distinctive views."
"We've had tremendous positive feedback from those who have seen the sculpture," notes Scharff Weisberg operations manager, Ron Brodeur. The sculpture's light panels are illuminated with 768 linear feet of Color Kinetics Icove LED color fixtures, individually controlled and permitting a smooth transition of hues across the length of any given panel. Each panel has a single row of fixtures across the top and bottom, so the top of the panel can be red, for example, while the bottom is yellow, mixing to orange in the middle.
"Since the Prow itself is a fairly small enclosure, we installed 12 automated VARI*LITE VL3000 moving light luminaires with wide-angle projection on the north side of the sculpture," Brodeur explains. The fixtures can change colors with a color mixing system that also allows soft transitions from color to color using CYM color mixing. "We also added glass break-up patterns to add more texture to the sculpture's beautiful palette of colors."
A rack-mounted Grand MA replay unit from Scharff Weisberg controls the sculpture's lighting cues from the data center in the Time Warner building. The powerful and flexible console was required to handle the approximately 2,500 control channels required by the LEDs and VARI*LITEs.
To give the sculpture's creators the proper perspective for programming it, Scharff Weisberg brought another full Grand MA console to a room in The Trump Hotel directly opposite Columbus Circle. From this vantage point the designers could devise the entire 4 to 11 pm look over the course of three nights using a wireless connection to access the control system in the Time Warner's headquarters. "It was crucial that everyone be far enough away from the sculpture to view it in its entirety," Brodeur points out. "With the wireless system we were able to test ideas and tweak and refine them."
"Ron is one of the greatest engineers and production managers we've ever had the pleasure to deal with," declares David Rome. "Everyone at Scharff Weisberg was extremely helpful and worked diligently on the project from the very beginning through completion. It was a truly collaborative effort."
Scharff Weisberg Lighting provides state-of-the-art lighting equipment for rental or as part of a complete package of AV equipment and support. For more information, call 212-582-3860.
For more photographs and information please visit:
http://www.romeantics.com/prow/
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Creative Team:
Time WarnerGeorge H. Ladyman, Jr.
RomeAntics ProductionsDesign & Programming
Producer: David Rome
Lighting Designer:Ted Mather
Lighting Programmer:Paul Sonnleitner
Production Designer:Brian Webb
Production Team:
CinnabarSculpture Fabrication
Principal:David Park
Project Manager:Ken Flanagan
Scharff Weisberg LightingLighting Systems:
Principal:Josh Weisberg
Manager:Ben Saltzman
Chief Engineer:Ron Brodeur
Jones Lang Lasalle Project Management:
Frank Alvarado
Michael Fletcher