The skyline of the city of Dublin recently witnessed the arrival of a unique feature when AC Lighting, working on behalf of London-based architects Hunt McGarry, commissioned a unique lighting scheme on a telecommunications mast in the city centre. The revolutionary 30m high mast, known as the Esat Digifone Telecommunications Millennium Landmark Structure is located next to an M50 motorway interchange in Tallaght, Dublin. The mast has the shape of a slender inverted cone and is constructed using laser-cut perforated stainless steel.

Under the direction of AC’s project manager Peter Keiderling, various options were considered from neon to side-emitting fibre optics. Neon was determined to be the most effective and a scheme was devised utilizing custom-manufactured segments of green neon to form double rings round the mast at 17 levels. Over 200 lengths of neon were produced in a variety of radii to complete the project. The neon is connected through special IP66/67-rated converters to enable dimming/switching via an 18-channel Pulsar Datapak lighting power pack. This is controlled from a Pulsar Masterpiece Replay Unit 216 programmed to perform a variety of chase sequences up and down the tower. The project was selected by the RIAI (Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland) for a Regional Award at a ceremony in Dublin on 2 July 2001.


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