Traditionally, big buildings under construction hold a topping off ceremony to mark the installation of the last beam on the structure’s highest point. The new Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago staged a particularly memorable topping off where a large array of Coemar lighting fixtures from Windy City Music Sound & Lighting in Burr Ridge, Illinois provided dramatic lighting for Chicago-based producer Event Architects. Windy City was brought in by the Event Agency, Event Architects who was hired by Children’s Memorial Hospital
The celebration was held December 7 in downtown Chicago at the Museum of Contemporary Art Plaza located across the street from Lurie Children’s, which is scheduled to open in 2012. The festivities were attended by philanthropist Ann Lurie, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, hospital staff, donors, patient families and construction workers.
“The last steel beam was signed by the workers, patients, hospital staff and patrons,” notes John Flaws, vice president of Windy City Music Sound & Lighting, a production sound and lighting company offering rentals and retail sales since 1981. “The topping off called for 30 Coemar Panorama Cyc Powers, in their dual 575-watt version, that would showcase the building beautifully as the light show was programmed to play in synch with the campaign song that was performed live.” The concept was to build the structure with light, “step by step, floor by floor,” he says, bathing the exterior in blues and greens and purples and pinks as High End Showgun automated lights layered gobos of white snowflakes falling gracefully down the sides of the building.
“The Coemars acted as the base lights with the Showguns accenting the building,” Flaws explains. “In addition, 24 Coemar Par Lite LEDs provided truss toning on the plaza. The truss that framed the stage and the truss towers supporting the projectors and lights were wrapped in white spandex and lit from within by changing color Par LED Lites.”
Windy City had only a small area on the construction site in which to set up. “The Coemar lights, which are IP rated, were out for three days in the rain and snow,” he reports. “We set them up on Saturday, programmed them on Sunday night and the ceremony took place on Monday. The Coemars were phenomenal, and everything held up very well.”
Justin Litterio was the lighting designer and programmer for the topping off. Chris Johnson was Windy City’s account executive.
About Inner Circle Distribution
Located in Sunrise, Florida, Inner Circle Distribution (ICD) is a full-service distributor supplying and servicing professional lighting needs in the U.S. and the Caribbean. ICD stocks multiple types of lighting equipment, including moving lights, LED products, intelligent consoles and much more. For additional information, visit our website at www.icd-usa.com or call Gary Mass at 954-578-8881.
About Coemar
Since 1933, Coemar has created and produced Italian-made projectors and lighting systems developed to design light in theaters, TV studios, big events and exhibitions. Situated in Castelgoffredo Mantova, Italy, they can be found at www.coemar.com.
