It is said that nature has a unique way of giving rise to hope and dreams. Appreciate the timeless beauty of a tree, or the inviting possibilities of a sunrise, and it is easy to believe that anything, regardless of how farfetched, is within reach. The founders of Eden Project surely felt such stirrings when they embarked on their journey to transform an abandoned clay pit into a series of geodesic domes contain biomes that celebrate the rich diversity of nature.
“It was ridiculous to imagine it was possible,” cofounder Tim Smit once said of the Eden Project’s beginnings. But possible it was! And the nonprofit attraction created by these visionaries drew 1.8 million visitors within a year after it opened on March 17, 2001.
This beautiful tribute to nature is still going strong, engaging visitors in compelling ways, just as it is doing this year with its Winter Holiday 2024 lightshows, which take place at its different domes. Artfully designed by Glenn Gridley and his team at GLX Productions, the immersive displays capture the mystical quality of the season when winter light and nature interweave in a timeless transcendent dance.
Helping the design team achieve this transformative effect is a collection of CHAUVET Professional fixtures run by two ChamSys control systems with two GeNetix GN10 rack mount nodes for data distribution.
“We have been doing this show for five years, and we have a good relationship with Eden Project,” said Gridley. “Every year we strive to raise the bar, bringing new ideas to the design to enhance the experience of visitors.”
This year, a collection of 24 Maverick Storm 1 Beam fixtures were key contributors to this more immersive environment in the “Mediterranean Dome,” a 0.654ha (1.6 acre) biome that houses warm weather and arid plants, such as olives and grapes. Taking advantage of the dome’s 115-foot height, Gridley surrounded a large mirror ball with kinetic winches and LED tubes, then used the bright output from the Maverick fixtures to create a variety of powerful looks.
Over at the Rainforest Biome, which houses tropical flora, such as fruiting banana plants, coffee, rubber, and giant bamboo, a collection of 10 IP65 rated Rogue Outcast 1L Beams are adding an engaging glow to the space. Positioned in the undergrowth of the rainforest, the high output fixtures shoot beams out to small mirror balls, resulting in a dome-like effect of light through the canopy and onto the path.
Gridley and his team also deployed various REVE E3IP units for gobo projections with rotators at key points on the pathways down into the biomes. This draws the eyes of visitors to the magical displays on the ground as they journey through the biome.
Speaking of the lighting design approach, Gridley noted: “In the rainforest, we wanted strong vibrant colours contrasted with white beams of lights hitting the mirror balls. We wanted lots LED string lights dropping 25m from the roof of the domes. Both uplighting elements and backlighting elements are key along with gobo work to add texture to the installation. Moving heads are key to adding movements to the space, since there is no wind indoors to rustle the trees and canopies.”
Dark space also played a key role in the Eden Project Winter Holiday design. “With the rain forest you are taking on a journey between the different light installations, from the hanging jelly fish lights to the mirror balls, to the light strings hanging from the dome,” explained Gridley.
Taking place at different time intervals, the winter lightshows at Eden Project follow an unfolding narrative. For example, in the Mediterranean Biome, the show starts with the room dropping to darkness, before the beams of the Storm 1 Beams appear, drawing all eyes skyward while the introduction audio plays. As the story progresses, mirror ball and the kinetic motors play a key role, moving led tubes up and down to create depth of field and interest, while Christmas music and dance tracks engage viewers of all ages.
Gridley described the “joyous moment” in the Mediterranean Biome lightshow when the kinetic winches move the LED tubes into position, and then suddenly, “you hear the crowd recognise they are forming a Christmas tree!”
The Timeline features the ChamSys consoles have been essential to scheduling these programmed lightshows. Gridley and his team are using two different ChamSys systems, one for the 20-universe Mediterranean Biome show, the other at the 15-univere Rainforest show.
A massive undertaking, the Eden Project Winter Holiday Show required eight-days of set up time and involved 21,768 pixels, 12.1km of power cables, and 9.5km of control cables. In the end, though, it was well worth the effort for all involved.
“The entire GLX team did an excellent job pulling this together,” said Gridley. “When we finished our work, we could walk the full show for the first time and see all the elements coming together — it’s a wonderful feeling.”
