A Titanic Undertaking. Lighting the “100th Anniversary of the Sinking of the HMS Titanic Artifacts Exhibit” Saint Petersburg, Fl. Mid last year (2012) Production Source received an invitation to bid on an interesting project involving lighting artifacts from the HMS Titanic. The artifacts were on a museum tour with a 6 month stop here in Saint Petersburg, Florida at the Mahaffey Theater underwritten by Bill Edwards Presents. Just another one of the endless gifts of culture and entertainment this man gives to our city. The exhibits design came from the workshop at Premier Exhibits, plans for lighting design came from the desk of LD Frank Russo. The exhibit consisted of several rooms that told the story of the construction of titanic. A first and third class stateroom built exactly to titanic plans. With gallery’s dedicated to the stories of the passengers lost and the tragedy that befell them that night. Each area featured artifacts recovered from the wreck site that were relevant to area of the exhibit you are in. As you learned about the fate of specific passengers, some of their actual belongings were displayed. Some of the challenges included getting the correct electrical service installed in the utility closet where the additional dimming channels were to be housed. Rigging in the physical space of the ballroom of the Mahaffey Theater required a great deal of planning. After an extensive site survey with regard to how the trusses would actually be rigged and multiple phone discussions with the lighting designer, we submitted our bid. A short time later we received the news that our company had been chosen. The plan called for over 160 conventional instruments on 94 circuits. Each one to be integrated with the house electrical plan as well as an additional 60 portable dimmer channels. A variety of conventional lights were used. The main gallery was spanned by three 75’ 12”x12” trusses. The majority of the truss mounted fixtures were manufactured by ETC. The conservators from Premiere Exhibits explained that many of the paper and fabric artifacts would deteriorate in high light levels. The amount of UV was also a concern. The versatile ETC fixture allowed us to use the HPL 375 bulb that met everyones requirements. Some dimmers ended up at less than 20 percent. The plan also involved a large amount of Par 36 track lighting that was used in the smaller galleries. Some of that track lighting was tied to the buildings existing architectural dimmers. Working from the drawings, we first hung the trusses, the lights and all the cabling. Then the exhibit was moved in underneath us. So the placement of each light was critical. We had an accurate Vector works drawing that showed the exact position where each light was to be placed and which dimmer each fixture was to report to, but as to how it was cabled was left up to us. I gave special consideration to the duty cycle that the rig was to endure. Basically “on all day and half the night” bulletproof engineering required. So that’s the way I designed the electrics. We followed the plan and everything came up perfect. The focus was interesting because the conservators worked with us carefully measuring the light levels on each artifact. For the preservation of artifacts the majority of the exhibit was lit at very low levels. Some of the dimmers channels on the artifact display cases were only at 13 percent. Many lights focused on graphics and text that guided you through the exhibit. The LD did such a fine job, when we brought up a specified light on its target, it covered the object perfectly. The right instrument for the job every time (good job Frank, you made us look good). For a job at this level to come off as perfectly this one did it takes a strong team. We had one, some special thanks must be given to John Durant for all his hard work, Brian Griffis for his many contributions in the planning stage and throughout the install. My assistant Jessie and the rest of our team, thank you all for putting so much of yourselves into this. The exhibit ran for six months, the lights stayed on for 10 hours a day, seven days a week. Other than a few bulbs being replaced we had no failures or issues. Overall it was a very cool project to be involved in, a challenge because of scale and complexities, but it was very fulfilling to walk through the exhibit and see the guests get lost in the experience. I was extra proud of this one. I love to see the people smile. Especially my clients ;)
Posted on: Thu, 17 Jul 2014 19:55:55 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015