Claypaky, in conjunction with Iren, entirely redesigned the lighting of the Mole Antonelliana. Turin’s iconic monument was designed by Alessandro Antonelli and built between 1863 and 1889.
Iren took part actively in all stages of the design process, and took charge of the installation and operation of the entire system. It consists of 43 new Claypaky ODEON lights: 24 Claypaky Odeon Flood Maxi RGBW units with 15° beam angle, 3 Claypaky Odeon Flood Maxi RGBW units with 25° beam angle, and 16 Claypaky Odeon Flood Medium RGBW units with 25° beam angle.
One of the mandatory conditions of the project was to re-fit the already equipped system installation points. The number of fixtures needed to distribute light on all four sides with a minimum illuminance of two candles per square metre was calculated. On the basis of the simulations carried out, Claypaky ODEON units with a 15° beam angle were able to achieve the set objective and – in many cases – exceed it. Of course, the final go-ahead was only given after a field test in the most critical conditions, i.e. at a distance of 90m from the monument and at a height of 25m above the ground with a diagonal projection of 180m.
The entire new lighting system was designed to work from a distance: the fixtures are installed on the rooftops of houses and cover a total area of about 100sq m.
The ODEON FLOOD lights chosen were designed by Claypaky for architectural use and are available with different optical units (15°, 25° and 35°) and different external finishes. The fixtures fit OSRAM high-power multi-chip LED technology, which ensures excellent colour mixing and electronic brightness control. They are the ideal tool to highlight historical and artistic monuments, public and private buildings, bridges and architectural structures, and parks and gardens.
Their IP65 and IK09 protection grades and wide working temperature ranges (from -25°C to +50°C) ensure long life and reliability over the years, even in particularly adverse weather conditions. A fibre optic network was installed that reaches all the lights to control them remotely and manage the entire rig. A DMX 512 signal converter at each system installation point allows the operator to change all the management parameters: colours, times, etc.
Before the new lighting system was installed, riggers were employed to climb up to the lights and place coloured gel filters on each one to change the colour of the Mole lighting according to the shades required.
With the new system, you can assign any colour you like, get any shade of white, or decrease or increase the intensity of the illumination of all the lights or certain groups of lights, just with a few clicks directly from a remote control desk. The system also ensures excellent colour mixing and long working life, no matter the outside conditions.
And that’s not all: replacing the old 1200W discharge lights with the new Odeon models has led to a 50% saving in electricity.
The first official chance to use and test the new lighting rig was for the end of year festivities. The Mole was first illuminated in Christmas blue, then in red for the night before Christmas, and then champagne on New Year’s Eve. More recently, it was dressed in pink for the “JUST THE WOMAN I AM” charity event.