Across the skyline, as dusk settled in, a dynamic beacon of light sparkled, shimmered, beamed and beckoned from atop the London landmark The Shard. Woodroffe Bassett Design created the holiday lighting installation for the second year in a row, illuminating the Shard’s spire, the highest 13 levels of the 95-story building, for the festive season. The Shard, at 309.6 meters (1,016 feet) in height, is the tallest building in the U.K.
This year’s special lighting had a new purpose, says lead designer Adam Bassett: to “shine a light” on the newly-created Children’s Cancer Center at Guy’s Hospital in its neighborhood. Bassett tells PLSN that he chose varying tones of white light rather than colored lights to serve as a holiday beacon.
“The challenge was to create a design that both wowed the viewing public but also respected the architectural vision of the building,” he says. “The upper levels of The Shard have been transformed into a mammoth lantern hanging a thousand feet in the air making a spectacular light show visible from tens of miles away.”
The Woodroffe Bassett Design team, which also included John Coman and Peter Kiederling, chose 343 programmable lighting fixtures, the majority using LED technology to keep energy consumption down. Total power draw cited was 903 amps (69,230 watts). The installation used an approximate 16 km (10 miles) of power and data cable, and took 21 staffers seven nights to complete. The Spire was also permanently manned during the operation.
The installation switched on Dec. 12, 2016 and dazzled each night until 2 a.m. with changing sequences of lights, programmed by six staffers over six nights. The Spire also visually represented the time by “striking” each hour with a signature show. Two specially designed looks thrilled viewers for Christmas Eve and the finale, New Year’s Eve, ending at 4 a.m. on New Year’s Day.
Patrick Woodroffe joined Bassett in detailing various challenges. Because there were no available elevators between levels 78 and 87, for example, any equipment and cables used above those levels had to be carried by hand. Also, because the Spire is open to the elements — including rain and high winds — all equipment had to be waterproof and strapped to the building, requiring just under 1 km (.62 miles) of tethering.
The team says the Shard could be seen from 40 km (25 miles) away, so they estimated the potential audience per night exceeded 9 million people.
“Illuminating the Spire of the Shard to ensure the light show has a visual effect at 1,016 feet requires a great deal of planning and technical execution,” Bassett says. “It’s a challenge that we have thoroughly embraced and enjoyed providing for the Shard, and we hope London will view it as the building’s best light display in recent years.”
View the video at plsn.me/WBD-Shard.
Holiday TV Shows
LD Mike Swinford designed holiday magic into several shows this season. Glow: An Evening with Brett Eldredge, was a concert special taped in October at the Jubilee Theater in Las Vegas. He also wove festive looks into a CBS-TV show with Jewel, called Holiday Homecoming for Jewel, which aired Christmas Day. It was shot in early December at Nashville’s Fontanel Mansion, the former home of country singer Barbara Mandrell.
LD Allen Branton lit the NBC-televised Hairspray Live, based on the Broadway musical. The show had an encore broadcast over Christmas weekend.
Steve Garner once again programmed Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Year’s Eve at ABC Studios in New York’s Times Square for LD Mike Grabowski.
Tom Beck, LD on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, taped its holiday shows with 12 days of giveaways.
LD Tom Kenny had several shows running up to Christmas: the 22nd Annual Critics’ Choice Awards in Los Angeles (Dec. 11) and, in his Miami hometown, Pitbull’s New Year’s Eve special with hosts Snoop Dogg and Queen Latifah. Kenny also cited his last few dates of iHeartRadio’s “uber sold out” Jingle Ball Tour, which ran through Dec. 18. The lineup, which varied in each city, included Meghan Trainor, The Chainsmokers, Fifth Harmony, Backstreet Boys, Alessia Cara, Charlie Puth, Daya, Lukas Graham, Hailee Steinfeld, Shawn Mendes, Justin Bieber, Diplo, Britney Spears, G-Eazy and DNCE, among others. Kenny’s forecast for 2017? A “bumper year,” much like 2016.
More Holiday Concerts
LD Alex Skowron designed the Jingle Bash in Chicago, his one holiday show of the year. His company, S&S Design, provided the media servers, and he programmed and operated the show, which included Britney Spears, Fifth Harmony, DNCE and Shawn Mendez, among others.
LD Gregg Maltby ran Huey Lewis & The News’ New Year’s Eve show in Rancho Mirage, CA. He continues with Huey Lewis and with Boston in 2017, as well as serving as lighting director for LD Marilyn Lowey for Neil Diamond. “2017 will be crazy busy,” he predicts.
Share your 2017 news with Debi Moen. Email her at dmoen@plsn.com.
