Illuminating Innovation: Pharos Architectural Controls Light Up Bellevue Railcar Assembly Facility
A brand-new railcar assembly facility in Perth, Australia, has become a canvas for illuminated artwork with the installation of more than one kilometre of LED tube lighting and a dynamic lighting control system from Pharos Architectural Controls.
The assembly and commissioning plant in Bellevue, Perth, is part of the Western Australian Railcar Programme. The project will deliver 246 new railcars for the country’s METRONET as the existing trains are phased out of use. The main facility includes a 180m-long building with an assembly area, offices, workshops and storage space.
To add personality to the site and make it a more aesthetic part of the landscape, large-scale artwork has been commissioned to adorn the building. This has then been illuminated through architectural lighting and control experts Light Application, who specified several solutions from Pharos Architectural Controls to create the dynamic lighting effects.
The artwork by Sohan Ariel Hayes is entitled ‘Midnight Express’ and pays tribute to the return of rail manufacturing to the area. The lighting design element has been brought to life with a 100-universe Pharos Designer VLC (Video Lighting Controller) controlling more than 1000m of PureLED Addressable Silicone Flextube.
The Designer VLC is a highly capable architectural lighting control solution designed for large LED pixel arrays such as bridges and building facades, making it the ideal choice for the Bellevue Railcar Facility artwork project.
The system has been completed with five Pharos Designer EDN (Ethernet Data Node) remote devices, providing economical Ethernet-distributed DMX ports for large control projects, and ninety three Pharos Designer SDI (Serial Data Interface) accessories, providing a powerful solution for converting DMX data to a variety of serial protocols. At the Bellevue site, the SDIs have enabled the lighting control to be a complete end-to-end Pharos system directly controlling the SPI based RGBW LED pixel tubing.
Supporting the system is Pharos Cloud, which provides simple and secure remote lighting installation control and management, from any Internet-connected device, at any time, anywhere in the world.
The Pharos system has made it possible for the LED artwork to sweep and curve around the north-facing façade of the facility. Celebrating the rail industry, the dynamic effects encompass movement, transitions and colour changes.
Tony Symms, Regional Sales Manager for Asia Pacific at Pharos Architectural Controls said: “The artwork on the new railcar facility in Bellevue is spectacular. It has transformed what could be a nondescript building into an integral part of the local community, showcasing the opportunities the rail industry is bringing back into the area.
“The system from Pharos Architectural Controls offers everything that is needed to bring this project to fruition with direct control of the SPI based lighting. The complete control system benefits from the renowned Pharos reliability and support. The scale of the lighting effects shows the power of Pharos solutions and what can be achieved through our technology and creative programming.”
Project Credits:
Design, supply, installation and programming: Light Applications
Artist: Sohan Ariel Hayes
Lighting controls: Pharos Architectural Controls
Photography: Jess Wyld
