Posted on: 30th March 2005, United Kingdom E-mail this page to a friend

Award winning creative lighting design, installation and project management specialists i-Vision have installed a spectacular integral permanent LED lighting scheme for the new Miele Experience Centre in Abingdon, Oxfordshire.

i-Vision, working for live brand experience agency mmm, also supplied full lighting production for the spectacular launch event of the new 18,000 square foot purpose built facility at Miele's UK HQ.

LED Installation – creating a magical environment

I-vision's Geoff Jones was asked on board this ambitious project by Simon Allison, Production Services Director for Worcester based mmm. mmm were appointed to design, produce and manage the opening of the Miele Experience Centre, it's celebratory staff event and trade show. The two companies collaborate regularly on live events.

Jones first visited the new building in August 2004 when it was a mere shell. He discussed the requirements and merits of permanent lighting extensively with mmm and Miele before coming up with a series of suggestions. They wanted a distinct look for the Experience Centre – an important visitor hub for their distributors and customers - which reflected the quality, sophistication, history and top positioning of their brand.

Also high on the agenda was energy saving and future-proofing. They wanted a look that was classic yet contemporary enough to last without needing constant updating.

Jones, an experienced buildings, structures and spaces lighting designer, suggested illuminating the front and side fascias of the glass fronted building with 80 of I-Vision's colour-changing Lumos 1200 LED strips. These were to introduce "An element of urban chic to the environment as soon as dusk fell", transforming a utilitarian workplace into a magical environment, specially beneficial for those long winter months when darkness falls by mid afternoon.

He proposed creating standard settings for these with different combinations of Meile's red and white corporate colours, and also give Miele the ability to change and put up custom colour combinations as they wished for special events or seasonal and promotional variations.

Being a fully working building, it was essential that the lighting scheme didn't interfere with The Experience Centre's functionality, and was finished neatly and unobtrusively –. concealing the means of the magical after dark transformation.

The top row of 32 Lumos strips is embedded in an exterior trough just below the roof of the building. There's another 16 in side troughs at either end and the remainder are used on the inside, to up and down light the windows. The side and window Lumos strip fittings feature custom 25 x 6 degree lenses to evenly wash the fronts of the glass panels.

Jones specified an Ethernet control system, designed to give the client 'hands-free' operation and allow lighting changes to be made off-site if necessary. i-Vision also installed a Sony IP camera to view the lighting remotely, and the pictures from this can also be streamed to Miele's website.

Simon Allison comments, "It's been excellent working with Geoff and i-vision over the last six months on this project, and I believe the results speaks for themselves in terms of exceeding both mmm and Miele's expectations. I look forward to continuing our relationship on projects in the future"

Opening Night

For the opening, it was vital that the temporary lighting scheme was complimentary to the Experience Centre's permanent one, so i-Vision asked Tim Matthews onboard to co-ordinate and LD this element of the project.

In addition to extra lighting for the building, i-Vision's brief included lighting the interior of the VIP marquee – a transparent roofed and sided structure pitched directly opposite the Experience Centre. Here Miele's guests enjoyed a champagne reception and dinner before the official 'turn on' which was followed by a fireworks spectacular.

The external building lighting was boosted by six Griven Colorado colour-changing floods, and inside the windows on both floors, were 18 YPOC 250 Washes and 6 Martin Atomic strobes.

In the marquee, Matthews used 24 Source Four PARs, 6 Source Four profiles 6 Clay Paky Stage Colors and 6 YPOC 250 Spots to create a subtle, interesting and understated 'modern' vibe for dinner.

All lighting for the opening night was controlled from a WholeHog II console operated by Matthews. Other key members of the I-Vision crew were Bruce Wardorf (gaffer) and Colin Monk (moving light tech), and the LED was tech'd by Gerry Stevens.

Audio was supplied by Sintech from Reddich, and the special effects were by Pyrovision. The official Experience Centre opening ceremony was presided over by Dr Miele and Dr Zinkann, the grandsons of Miele's two founders who started the company in Herzebrock, Germany in 1899.