Sparks Electrical News January 2019

LIGHTING

16

SOUTH AFRICA’S FIRST SMART LIGHTING ARCHITECTURAL INSTALLATION

OBITUARY: WILLIE OPPERMAN I t is with great sadness that BEKA Schréder advises of Willie Opperman’s passing on 1 December 2018 at the age of 60. He had been in hospital where he underwent several operations after being involved in a motorcycle accident. Willie was part of the BEKA Schréder team for 25 years and was an amazing individual, leaving a definite impression everywhere he went. He was loved and respected by all his colleagues, customers, friends and loved ones. He will truly be missed. Willie lived a colourful life, having been a member of the parachuting battalion during his compulsory military career, and having fought twice for the South African Light Heavyweight Boxing Title, to mention just a few examples. He was a phenomenal storyteller and able to leave everyone roaring with laughter. Willie joined BEKA Schréder’s Cape Town branch in 1993 as a Sales Representative, where he worked until 1994. In April 1994 he was transferred to Bloemfontein as Regional Manager for the Free State, Northern and Eastern Cape. His open-minded personality, coupled with competence in lighting made him a successful manager where he remained until 1999, when he was appointed as the Regional Manager in the Johannesburg branch. His achievements speak for themselves; under Willie’s leadership, the branch grew to one of the leading branches of BEKA Schréder. Willie was appointed Business Development Manager for South

J ohannesburg’s Rosebank has long been known as a cosmopolitan, trend-setting district, but now, thanks to digital display services company, Primary Colours, it’s not just the street fashion that’s turning heads. Opposite the Gautrain station on the Oxford Road thoroughfare, the iconic Rosebank Link building features the future of display advertising. Billboards on the sides of buildings are nothing new, but in the past they have always been added after the fact. Thanks to a unique collaboration between Paragon Architects, Redefine Properties (the building owners) and Primary Colours, the Rosebank Link now features a dramatic full-colour LED video screen that has been custom-designed and engineered to be an integral part of the building’s fabric, and to contribute to the edifice’s striking appearance. Not only is Primary Colour’s Rosebank screen one of the largest LED screens in South Africa, it is also the country’s largest operational example of a strip screen display. The building’s exterior lights – which, like the screen content, can be controlled and manipulated remotely, are not made of individual lights, but are in fact narrow strips of video screen. “Using this new DigiLED technology, we’ve been able to create an exceptionally flat screen that offers maximum viewing angles to pedestrians and drivers using this major city artery,” explained Primary Colours directors Ashendra Singh and Grant Neill. “With no off-angle colour shift, this new screen offers advertisers a unique way to tell their stories in the most impactful way possible,” they added. With HD 720 resolution and the ability to display 16 million colours, the complete screen measures 18 m wide and 7 m high (1 728 pixels wide x 745 pixels high). Geometric-pattern cladding was used to underline the fact that the screen is an authentic part of the building’s fabric. While the screen itself represents cutting edge technology, it is arguably the building’s strip lighting (attached to the Rosebank Link via watertight perforations in the building façade) that is the most exciting aspect of this project. Most impressive when viewed at night, the ribbons of coloured video displays are designed to reflect from the building’s edges, giving a more harmonious ‘wash’ effect. This ‘smart lighting’ has a total length of 226 m, and stretches across 15 floors of the building.

Africa at the beginning of 2018, with his vast experience adding more value to the team. Willie will be sorely missed by all. Our sincere condolences go to his family.

Enquiries: www.primarycolours.co.za

LED LIGHTING TOOLS FOR GLAMOROUS EXHIBITION DESIGN

T he Yves Saint Laurent Museum in Marrakesh, Morocco presents itself as a veritable jewel of contemporary museum architecture. The interior of the monolithic brickwork construction designed by Studio KO surprises with its dramatic exhibition concept referencing the theatre and stage. ERCO LED lighting technology installed in a walk- in black box enables the tones and textures of the iconic haute couture models of Yves Saint Laurent blossom. Outside: flickering heat below the sun of North Africa that illuminates the brick facade of the new museum building from architects Studio KO in the Rue Yves Saint Laurent in a warm, pink glow. Inside: an exhibition space completely in black – a black box that accommodates the key works of the creative genius Yves Saint Laurent and a scenographic concept that celebrates the opulence and diversity of the haute couture designs of the fashion designer who passed away in 2008, and was one of the most influential couturiers of the 20 th century. Fifty selected robes, skilfully illuminated, confront visitors to the pitch-black darkness – clothed on mannequins assuming the appearance of protagonists on a theatre stage. The French architect and scenographer Christophe Martin who designed the exhibition of the new museum was personally acquainted with Yves Saint Laurent. With the presentation in the Yves Saint Laurent Museum in Marrakesh, he provides an extensive insight into the life and work of the couturier who came to Morocco for the first time in 1966. In terms of lighting and also due to conservational considerations, the decision was taken for LED technology. Akari-Lisa Ishii, the lighting designer who transformed Christophe Martin’s scenographic concept into LED lighting tools from ERCO explains. “LEDs do not generate any heat or UV radiation, which is a very important aspect when illuminating sensitive and valuable textiles.” Those entering the foyer of the museum from the road and through the slender corridor between brickwork walls and the entrance courtyard,floodedwith sunlight and embellishedwith a six-foot YSL logo (effectively displayed by two beamer projectors following the onset of twilight), is guided to the right towards the main exhibition space. At first glance visitors experience complete darkness. “This contrast between bright and dark and between the exterior and interior was an essential factor in designing this space,” said Christophe Martin. “Detached from daylight and their surroundings, visitors find themselves here in a completely different universe – in the world of Yves Saint Laurent.” As an eye-catcher in the entrance, the famous “Robe Mondrian” from

– even those of the black gowns on black backgrounds. The highly precise ERCO LED lighting technology enables such high levels of visual comfort within this exhibition and also avoids any form of glare. “For me, light is the most important building block in any scenography,” explained Christophe Martin. “This perfect illumination of individual exhibits within an exhibition is essential for the impact of the complete presentation.”

1965, accented with two Optec LED contour spotlights, appears to float towards the visitors from the depths of darkness. The dress with its geometry and colour design is akin to an exclamation mark within the black box. The 50 models exhibited on mannequins here are displayed in thematic groups that serve to illustrate the most important subjects of Saint Laurent’s creative oeuvre. Textures, embroideries, flounces and the draped textile plies of the robes are crisply and three-dimensionally enhanced thanks to accented lighting from the Optec contour spotlights

Enquiries: www.erco.com

SPARKS ELECTRICAL NEWS

JANUARY 2019