At 104 years old, Detroit’s iconic Michigan Central Station has been viewed as a reflection of Detroit’s rise and fall and subsequent rebirth, as it has sat unoccupied since the late 1980’s. It was once the central hub of transportation into and out of the city, but its location, the rise of other forms of transportation, and the decline in Detroit’s population ended up being the station’s downfall. Since its closure, there has been much speculation about what is to done with the space. Recently, talk about redevelopment has accelerated.
A Big Homecoming Event
Whatever its future holds, Michigan Central Station hosted its first significant event in almost 30 years in the former grand concourse. Starting on Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2017, Detroit Homecoming — an annual gathering of former Detroit business owners who moved themselves and their businesses back to Detroit — signaled a new era in the building. The three-day annual event is designed to celebrate and welcome expat movers and shakers back to Detroit to live, work and invest in the city. This event, of course, had to make a bold statement.
Enter Bluewater, a Michigan-based technology company with deeps roots in the community. The company has offices in Michigan, Indianapolis, IN and Columbus, OH. Bluewater (based in just outside Detroit in Southfield MI) is the go-to company for events and AV Integration service around the city, including recent work with DLectricity, the new Little Caesar’s Arena, and the Detroit Historical Society’s Detroit ‘67 exhibit.
For Detroit Homecoming, Peter Kyte, Bluewater’s director of design and development, had a vision to turn the station into a beacon for the event. Kyte had been thinking about the possibilities with the station since 2011, before he arrived at Bluewater. But that was before Detroit went through formal bankruptcy. Back then, Kyte was eyeing the site for a potential festival. The design for this location had to be as grand as the building itself; something that would capture the imagination of the city.
Detroit Homecoming’s Colleen Robar agreed. “As soon as Bluewater showed us the train station concept, we knew we had to bring it to life for Detroit Homecoming. The symbol of the lit train station fit perfectly with our goal of realigning our attendees’ interest in the city.”
13 Floors, 264 Windows
Kyte was elated to have his design put into action. “We had to cover 264 windows with diffusion from floor three to floor 13. That’s 11 stories high and 24 windows wide,” says Kyte. “We set up four windows with diffusion to test — we ended up going with inexpensive Visqueen and it worked like a charm. I remember driving to the station a few days before we started programming and seeing the four windows lit up. It was then that I knew this would be something really special.”
But a project of this magnitude does not come without its own unique hurdles. Besides timeframe and many moving parts, Bluewater’s senior project manager Jason Olivier says, “Dealing with floors that were locked out and troubleshooting fixtures and focus over multiple floors was a constant challenge.”
As programming was happening, there was a large crowd gathering outside of the station. People were drawn to the lights and naturally curious about what was going on with the building. Though Kyte was eager to answer questions, that intrigue created another layer of difficulty for communication and setup.
Programming itself provided some obstacles as well. Bluewater had to keep lighting control in the building due to security and the short-time frame challenges for setting up. Not only that, Kyte and programmer Gary McGarity had to communicate via radio for programming while handling all the responsibilities and duties as the master electrician.
“Having to program a show using only the visualizer in the grandMA console and communicating with the designer via radio was a challenge. Seeing the looks on the people outside and their reactions to the overall design was really awesome,” said McGarity.
Rapid-Fire Install
The rapid-fire approach to the installation meant that things normally fixed during prep were fixed onsite. “I could see Jason’s silhouette running from window-to-window, then floor-to-floor, responding to radio calls to tweak focus or a fixture profile; it was pretty funny actually,” says Kyte.
Fixture choice was important, and Bluewater already had Elation SixPar 100 IPs in their inventory, says Kyte. “Elation offered a great balance of brightness and color choice and a proven record of their IP fixtures dealing with harsh environments. We stuck with Elation for our sub rentals to get a consistent color across the entire building. Gary [McGarity] alternated fixture types across each floor to give us a uniform look.”
Troy Wehner, the senior designer and director of CGI and technical applications, was the one to create the content for the project. This content included alternating colors and patterns as well as words. Wehner and the Bluewater team made letters spelling out “Detroit Homecoming” and “Reinvest” and
“Reimagine” all scroll across the station.
“This was a fantastic project to be a part of, not only for its extreme scale, but for its positive impact on this city and its future,” says Wehner.
Overcoming all the challenges that were presented allowed Bluewater to create something memorable. Though the installation was in action for just a few days, the result was a massive local media blitz and an intense amount of social media buzz. Michigan Central Station is an emblematic piece of architecture reflecting the mood and energy of Detroit. People from around the city were drawn to the new illuminated façade. It was an historic moment for Detroiters and represented what the city has to look forward to, with a tantalizing vision of a once-busy but now empty and dark urban transportation hub, once again bustling with activity and pulsing with light.
Lighting Michigan Central Station for Detroit’s Homecoming, Sept. 13-15, 2017
Crew
- Lighting Design: Bluewater
- Designer: Peter Kyte
- Project Manager: Jason Olivier
- Programmer/ME: Gary McGarity
- CGI Content: Troy Wehner
Gear
- 1 grandMA Light console
- 120 Elation SixPar 100 IP
- 100 Elation Q7 IP
- 24 Elation EPAR QW
- 20 Elation SixPar 100
