Rome’s Historic Colosseum Gets High-Tech with Robe BMFLs

The world famous heritage site reopens after three years of extensive refurbishments with a spectacular lighting scheme consisting of Robe BMFL WashBeams.

CI Staff
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The Colosseum in Rome – a world famous heritage site and one of Italy’s most popular tourist attractions – was originally constructed in 70 – 80 AD and is the largest amphitheatre ever built.

This summer it was reopened after three years of extensive refurbishments – the first in its history.

The momentous occasion involved a high profile gala event.

A special classical program was played by the Accademia Teatro alla Scala conducted by Zubin Mehta and the Colosseum was lit by lighting designer Giancarlo Toscani who utilized 20 Robe BMFL WashBeams for the occasion.

Giancarlo was asked to propose a lighting scheme by the show director, Fulvio Michelazzi, working for event producers Studio Exhibita and for end-client Grupo Tod, one of the co-sponsors of the restoration project along with the Italian government working in a PPP arrangement.

Photos: See how Robe BMFLs Light Up Rome’s Colosseum  

The brief was to light the iconic structure tastefully, preserving its architectural and historical integrity and also to emphasize a ‘Made in Italy’ concept, for which he used the logo and the colors of the Italian flag to highlight ‘simplicity and elegance’.

This was the real challenge. He needed a fixture that was super-bright to throw light long distances across the venue, which has a variety of diameters of between 156 and 188m due to its elliptical shape. He also needed a source with finesse and quality.

He chose the BMFL WashBeam as the best option to provide the power to illuminate and color the inner walls of the Colosseum for the performance.

Even in the dark shades the effect was said to be bright and effervescent, and he could shape the output precisely using the shutter blades which was vital to get the desired results.

Using structures or trussing had to be avoided in case of damaging the building, so the luminaires were diligently positioned around the Colosseum, using available spaces not accessible to the public like balconies and walls on each ring of the amphitheater.

In advance, Giancarlo created a 3D graphical presentation of the proposed lighting for the client offering a virtual 360° view and illustrating how the original stonework, standing for many centuries, might look with his carefully considered application of light.

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He needed the lighting treatment to play with the shadows, texturing and other intricacies of the stone, enabling him to create subtle movements with sinuous cross fading, adding depth and allowing the environment to breathe and come alive.

Producing a dynamic effect on the static stone was an exciting path to follow that required great imagination.

With lights seemingly chasing shadows, and vice versa, it seemed like the walls of the Colosseum were re-living the history “in a tide of emotions,” he explains.

Assistant lighting designer and collaborator Danilo La Rosa helped program the show.

The event was produced by Studio Exhibita, who oversaw the realization of the entire project, under the guidance of supervisor Marco Ramon, project leader Elisa Brambati and executive producer Caterina Carlini. The BMFLs and other lighting equipment for the re-opening event were provided by New Light ‘Milano’.

“There was a fantastic synergy between all the creatives involved in this very special show,” says Giancarlo.

This article was originally posted on Commercial Integrator Europe.

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