The lighting on the London Eye and adjoining pier forms a prominent feature of the London skyline, and these iconic landmarks are tasked annually with providing the centrepiece of London’s new-year celebrations. Since 2005, both the Eye and pier have been operated and controlled by permanently mounted Pharos controllers, and this year they were required to act in synch with Pharos LPCs and TPCs on the Golden Jubilee footbridge as well as the nearby Shell Building and County Hall to spectacular effect.
Pharos LPCs on the Eye and Jubilee footbridge controlled Philips fixtures to trigger dynamic lighting effects simultaneously with County Hall. The LPC’s solid state compact design with remote management facilities are ideally suited to the rigours of the exposed, rotating Eye, and also provided the necessary functionality and flexibility to allow each element of the display to be incorporated into this year’s design. Each part of the show was programmed to run independently using real-time triggers to start all the lighting cues on time.
Split second accuracy was a crucial element of the event, and the internal clock in the Pharos TPC managed Anolis fixtures on the countdown on the façade of the Shell Building. These were controlled to work in tandem with the temporary lighting effects on the wheel and the lighting pulses on the Eye to run a regular beat during the final seconds of the countdown. All worked in perfect harmony with the brilliant firework display to ensure that both Pharos and the city of London started 2015 in style.
This year the lighting on the London Eye, Golden Jubilee Bridge, and the facades of the Shell Building and County Hall were programmed by Jack Neill to the requirements of leading lighting designers Durham Marenghi and Paul Cook.
