LONDON — Lighting supplied by Blinding Light and a design by Mark Mumford helped define the battlefield within The Hangar at London’s O2 for teams of laser tag warriors. Live experience company Sledge, which set up the indoor digital laser tag facility, commissioned the three-month project. Housed inside the O2’s inflatable “Bubble” structure, Mumford’s design helped immerse game participants in an otherworldly fantasy created by contrasting team colors and fog effects. Participants navigated the inflatable maze and connecting corridors in search of their targets.
Blinding Light supplied Source Four Profiles, a variety of PARs and Pulsar ChromaStrips, all of which were evenly distributed around the Bubble’s roof structure. There were also 16 Studio Due MiniCity units set on slow color changing chases. The game zone featured team colors of red and blue in washes and chases, and MBI fixtures were used to highlight The Hangar logo outside the venue.
All lighting was programmed onto an Avolites Pearl console, which also controlled the two GEM ZR247 smoke machines used for atmosphere. Although the lighting sequences were pre-programmed, each five-minute game required a manual stop and start. Blinding Light showed one of The Hangar managers how to operate the console to do that.
The power distribution layout, which was designed by Blinding Light’s Paddy Stacey, fed the air conditioning, chillers and ancillary plant in addition to the sound, lighting and AV equipment. Three 125 Amp 3-phase supplies were run in from the Dome, and the distribution also supplied power to The Hangar’s office portacabins and laser gun charging stations. Sixteen separate circuits were incorporated into the design for the heavy-duty fans used to inflate the whole structure and its internal set.
All the distro equipment was IP rated and pulled from Blinding Light’s hire stock. The crew also devised an emergency flood system to quickly light all areas if necessary, and supplied safety and fire exit lighting throughout the venue, plus exterior floodlighting for after dark.
For more information, please visit www.blinding-light.co.uk.
