Lightsounds Strikes the Port Kembla Stack
For nearly 50 years the Port Kembla chimney stack has dominated the Wollongong landscape, as its spewed forth waste from the copper smelter below. Now with plans to demolish the site at a cost of $10M, local lobbying group Stack 360, plan to turn the chimney into a tourist attraction. At a height of nearly 200 metres the group are trying to stop the planned demolition of the iconic landmark. By way of example the Sydney Tower is a little over 300 metres, so with plans to install a lift, the Stack would offer panoramic 360-degree views of Wollongong and surrounds. As part of the lobbying process Stack 360 have retained Lightsounds Wollongong to light up the stack to demonstrate the potential beauty of this amazing piece of history.
With the stack situated on an industrial park owned by Port Kembla Copper, the challenge for Claude Spinelli and his team was to shoot from a distance of about 100 metres away. The stack would be seen from all over Wollongong in order to raise awareness for the impending demolition. As the stack is very narrow and tall, the mission to light up the stack would require a very focused beam. And shooting from such a distance would mean that unless the light beams were nice and tight, the stack would just be washed with indistinguishable blobs of colour. While Claude evaluated several options including a searchlight, he decided on four powerful Pure Reliability XL700 moving heads. With CYM colour mixing, multiple gobo options and a variable beam angle as low as 10 degrees, they proved to be ideal for the job.
The results speak for themselves, just check out the amazing pictures. Not only has Stack 360 made the front page of local newspapers and television but it has also bought down droves of families and interested parties, amazed at the sheer beauty of the tower. As for Stack 360 their mission to raise awareness for the chimney has been surpassed, as they wait on the local council decision as to the Stack’s future. And Lightsounds are now being asked to light up several other landmark buildings as they continue to demonstrate the value of architectural outdoor lighting.
Have a look at the stories in the local papers..
http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/1719135/port-kembla-stack-lights-up-the-night/?cs=300
