Christmas at Eden
UK - Born from a disused china clay mine and a need for environmental sustainability education, Cornwall’s Eden Project was created in 2001. Eden has two large geometric bubble-like biomes, the Rainforest and the Mediterranean. The rainforest is the world’s largest indoor rainforest at 50m high and 16,000m2 and the Mediterranean houses some of the world’s rarest horticultural specimens.
For the second year, GLX Productions has designed and delivered the biome lighting for Christmas at Eden, using over 300 lighting fixtures, 3km of cable and 5km of fairy lights.
The dramatic landscapes of the biomes were lit in rich colours to create a compelling world of shadows and light. The crowning centrepiece of the Mediterranean Biome this year is a giant mirror ball casting a blizzard of snowflake-like points of silvery light across the giant structure.
The biomes themselves catch light well provided you have the right positioning throughout. The rainforest, due to its immense height, looks incredible when lit but does present its own challenges. Whereas the Mediterranean structure picks up light easily from the floor due to smaller plants, in the rainforest the vegetation is so thick it is borderline impossible to get light from the floor to the roof.
To combat this, 40 LEDJ Spectra Par 7Q8, 30 LEDJ Spectra Par 15Q8 and 35 LEDJ Spectra Flood 18T3 are deployed across the space. This picks up the intricacies of the plants from below and rig additional Chauvet Colorado Q40 Panels and Strike 1’s from the roof of the biomes to tie the entire look into one. Where the ‘pillows’ of the biomes themselves are clear it means light can be seen on the inside and outside of the structure simultaneously.
For the Mediterranean Biome SGM P5’s are used to light the three largest Washingtonia palm trees and cast blue light across the space. Inside, the cliff face is also lit with P5’s and two Chauvet Ovations and a snowflake gobo.
This created the t backdrop with the amber and magenta hues from the remaining 140+ LEDJ units for the giant mirror ball suspended from the structure. This was lit with four Chauvet Professional Rogue Outcast 1 Hybrid fixtures which are quiet and punchy. They also break away from the mirror ball at points and shine snowflake gobos all over before coming back again - It just breaks it up a little.

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