Franklin Hall at the Franklin Institute

Nov 21, 2019

Franklin Hall at the Franklin Institute

The Franklin Institute needed to replace their 11 year old failing early-generation LED wash lights and controls; originally installed by Starlite, which lit Franklin Hall for everyday activities, in addition to a looping “architainment” style multimedia show and special events. The new system also needed to improve reliability and ease of adjustment for the Franklin Institute staff.

Starlite provided one-to-one replacements for the original lighting fixtures, new data distribution hardware and two new ways to control the lighting. An ETC Mosaic processor handles day-to-day show and preset playback, while also enabling custom controls that make 95% of the room’s predicted uses available behind a few button presses. For the 5% of events that don’t fit these controls, an ETC Nomad system is utilized for full theatrical-style control of the room. In addition, Starlite worked closely with FI staff to reprogram the centerpiece “Benjamin Franklin Forever” show to take advantage of the improvement of the control system and bring the show back in line with the original design. Concurrent with Starlite’s work, IMS Technology Services replaced the audio and video backbone and provided a new user interface that seamlessly integrates lighting control with the other systems in the room.

Equipment

(32) ETC ColorSource Linear 1 Deep Blue
(8) ETC ColorSource Linear 2 Deep Blue
(12) ETC ColorSource Linear 4 Deep Blue
(1) ETC Mosaic MSC2
(1) ETC Mosaic Remote I/O
(1) ETC Nomad Unlocked
(4) ETC Response Mk2 1-port Wall-mount Gateway
(2) ETC Response Mk2 4-port Rack-mount Gateway
(4) ETC Response Mk2 2-port Wall-mount Gateway
(1) ETC Response Mk2 4-port DIN rail mount Gateway
(1) Cisco SG350X-Switch – 24 x Gigabit Ethernet Network, 2 x 10 Gigabit Ethernet, POE+
(1) Dell Inspiron 5582 2-in-1 Touchscreen Computer

Starlite’s work on this project was slickly engineered, competitively priced, and installed without a hitch. The whole team were super dedicated and easy to work with. They handled collaboration with our AV vendor, were on-time and on-point. The project manager and programmer handled the work nimbly, and produced a unified lighting system that is beautiful and functional — working equally well in automated daytime operations AND flexibly for after-hours operations in our classically designed National Memorial.

Clifford Greer

Project Technician, The Franklin Institute

The confidence we had in Starlite from previous experiences was a key factor in bringing them back to complete the lighting upgrade.

Mark Harmon

Director of Operations, Safety & Security , The Franklin Institute

Veterans Stadium Liberty Bell

Apr 17, 2019

Veterans Stadium Liberty Bell

To welcome visitors to Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Major League Baseball Philadelphia Phillies commissioned a special lighting project to vividly illuminate Philly’s historic and iconic Veterans Stadium Liberty Bell.

This Liberty Bell feature was originally located on the facade of the 400 level of Veterans Stadium until 1983 when it was moved to its permanent position in center field of the catwalk above the 700 level. Weighing more than 5,000 pounds and measuring 19 feet tall with over (300) light bulbs, the Veterans Stadium Liberty Bell inspired the larger 52-foot Liberty Bell that now sits in right-center field of Citizens Bank Park where it lights up and swings after Philadelphia Phillies home runs and wins.

Veterans Stadium, home to both the , Major League Baseball (MLB) Philadelphia Phillies and National Football League (NFL) Philadelphia Eagles from 1971-2003, was imploded in March 2004 and the steel and aluminum bell was almost forgotten about. It returned to the ballpark after being lovingly reworked by CIMA Network, and the Phillies organization sought to integrate control of the feature into their ballpark-wide lighting control system. The newly refurbished Veterans Stadium Liberty Bell now features (321) new color-changing LED light bulbs and outlined with a new color-changing neon stripe controlled in (290) 5” long segments. A great photo opportunity, the Bell can now be found outside the 3rd base entrance of Citizens Bank Park at Pattison Avenue and 11th Street, next to Mike Schmidt’s statue and the new Pass and Stow area.

Installation

ETC Mosaic MSC4 Show Controller
Networked DMX Gateway

Artistic Programming

(321) Color Kinetics iColor Flex LMX gen2 RGB Bulbs (Provided by CIMA)
1,450 linear feet of GLLS Vivid Pixel RGB Neon (Provided by CIMA)

Democratic National Convention

Jul 30, 2016

Democratic National Convention

To welcome the Democratic National Convention hosted in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from July 25th to 28th, 2016, the city commissioned a special lighting project to vividly illuminate Philly’s two historic landmarks: 30th Street Station and City Hall.

Starlite and The Lighting Practice of Philadelphia had the honor of collaborating on this fun project. The lighting design for each landmark dictated a combination of powerful LED wash lights and long-throw profile units to project of various patriotic patterns and elements. Two things were critical when specifying the equipment for the month-long project: the lighting units had to be both impactful and weatherproof. After careful consideration, Starlite’s VP of Event Technology, Jason Danowitz, chose SGM‘s P5 high-performance outdoor LED wash units, and Clay Paky’s Mythos fixtures housed in Igloo enclosures as the real workhorses of the design.

Supplying power to 30th Street Station’s glowing display was no easy feat as it required boring multiple 48″ deep holes into the roadway to reach the power source. The 30th Street Station design also featured an interior lighting package to illuminate the east and west windows using dozens of Elation‘s Color Chorus linear RGBA fixtures and an ETC Ion console.

For City Hall and the Avenue of the Arts’ architectural system, MA Lighting International GmbH’s full-size grandMA2 with an NPU processor was the console of choice. City Hall had its own challenges — the wireless DMX transceivers were almost a half-mile from the control room to the receiving point at City Hall. Starlite was able to take control of the existing architectural LED lighting system which runs along the Avenue of the Arts to coordinate the lighting looks and sequences with City Hall. The interconnected lighting systems created a beautiful radiant sight of red, white and blue down South Broad Street.

The lighting displays were widely praised by the media and captivated DNC attendees, visitors, and natives alike.