PHOENIX – Guests at the Arizona Biltmore often ask if the upscale hotel/resort was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. It wasn’t, but it could well have been. Although the famed architect didn’t actually draw up the blueprints (a former student of his did), he was actively involved in planning the aesthetically balanced 89-year-old structure, which bears his trademark “textile block” construction.
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Nowhere is Wright’s ethereal touch more evident than in the Biltmore’s spacious grounds, which instantly captivate visitors with their winding tree-lined paths, evocative abstract sculptures from the Master’s own Midway Gardens, and gently curved glimmering pool. The transformative effect of these grounds was made even more powerful at a recent event, thanks to a Creative BackStage lighting design that featured Maverick and Rogue fixtures from CHAUVET Professional.
“We were brought in by Hello Arizona to light the pool and lawn areas of the Biltmore grounds,” said John Garberson of Creative BackStage. “From a lighting design point of view, this is an ideal canvas to work your art on. Our focus was to use light to accent the aesthetics of this site.”
Garberson and his team of lighting designer Chris Brodman and programmers Rita Assi and Cullen Noon accomplished this task in flying colors, quite literally, washing the pool, paths and lawn area in soft hues that played off well against the Wright-inspired grounds’ natural flowing lines.
“There is a peaceful, understated elegance to this site, especially at night,” said Garberson. “The colors that we created with our lights really supported this mood.”
Adding an alluring sense of depth to the setting were the large, crisp gobos that were projected on the grounds and on the reflective water of the pool. Repeating the same circular patterns on the shimmering water, the textile block building and the surrounding palm trees had the effect of making all of the grounds’ visual elements blend into a single, and very immersive, panorama.
Garberson and his team created this effect in the pool area by positioning fixtures on four 13’ truss towers. Each tower had one Maverick MK2 Spot and four Rogue R2 Wash fixtures, along with three ellipsoidals. “We relied on the Mavericks for our immersive gobos,” said Garberson. “With their two gobo wheels, they open a lot of good creative possibilities.”
A collection of 32 CHAUVET DJ Freedom Par fixtures was positioned around the pool area for uplighting. The battery-powered Freedom Par was also used to uplight palm trees in the resort’s lawn area, where a stage was set up for the evening’s entertainment. Lighting the artists that provided that entertainment were eight tower-mounted Rogue R1 Wash fixtures. Ellipsoidal units were used to illuminate the path that led from the pool to the lawn area.
The net result was that all sections of the Arizona Biltmore grounds were woven seamlessly together by light… light that was presented in a way that harmoniously blended the site to its surroundings and engaged everyone who encountered it, much like Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture.
