Robe moving lights and Anolis LED fixtures were specified to illuminate Bath Abbey, Pulteney Bridge and other key architectural features around the famous UK World Heritage spa town's city centre for the opening night of the 2011 Bath International Music Festival - "Party In The City".
This is the second year that locally based Enlighted has designed a lighting scheme for Bath Abbey, which was founded in 1499 and is one of the largest examples of Perpendicular Gothic architecture in the West Country. The client was Bath Tourism & Leisure.
Around the base, washing up the walls on the north and east elevations were Robe moving lights - a combination of ColorSpot 1200, 700 and 575E ATs. Robin 600 LEDWash fixtures were positioned at the corners and bathed large areas in striking shades of colour.
Rigged further up on the four roof areas of the Abbey and along the narrow passageways snaking around the roof were a total of 118 Anolis and other LED fixtures.
All the lights positioned above ground level were LED, chosen for the practicalities of rigging, power consumption and versatility afforded by RGB light sources.
The windows' apertures were very precisely lit with Anolis ArcLine 36 Optic strips on the sills at the bottom, with two fixtures per window more than enough to highlight the intricate detail and relief work.
To contrast the building stonework against these finer elements, the flying buttresses down the north and south sides of the Abbey were lit by a series of LED units including Anolis ArcPad 48s.
Special attention was paid to lighting the upper tower with a nice smooth even wash, which because of its elevation became a beacon visible from all across the city of Bath, which is built surrounded by seven hills.
All the Abbey architectural lighting was powered from hard power within the church and the control FOH position was in a door well on the east face. A Chamsys MagicQ 120 Pro desk was used to run the lights.
Directly adjacent to the east facia of the Abbey is Orange Grove, which includes a circular lawn with an obelisk in the centre and a row of beamed buildings. These were gently brushed with light from a row of Anolis ArcLine Optic 18, 24 and 36 strips located on top of the roof overhang at first floor level.
The obelisk and surrounding trees were lit with Anolis ArcLine Outdoor Optic and twelve high output RGB battery uplights.
A few hundred metres away down by one of Bath's charismatic riverside locations were more Robe ColorWash 1200E AT and ColorSpot 700E AT fixtures, stationed in between a row of colonnades and used to pick out the Grade I listed Pulteney Bridge in a series of delicate, fluid watery animations and gobo effects.
The waters rushing over the 3-tiered ovular weir below were also illuminated with the Robes, and the row columns were up-lit with 64 Anolis ArcSource 6, RGB LED units creating another layer to this installation. The lights were controlled via an Avolites Pearl Expert.
To complete the opening night installation, the Guildhall building on the High Street was also lit, again using LEDs including Anolis ArcLine Outdoor Optic 36 RGBA strips up-lighting the columns front of the portico. These were combined with magenta MBI floods concealed in the light wells below street level.
The lighting scheme was a massive success, with David Lawrence, divisional director of Bath Tourism, Leisure & Culture asking if the installation - initially only scheduled to run for the one night - could remain in place for a further three days throughout the Bank Holiday Weekend.
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