The Saxon State Spa - the cultural and festival town of Bad Elster - shines in a completely new light
A new, fascinating World of Experience and Light awaits guests in the special sojourn quality of nature, culture and health in the Royal Gardens.
The joint project of the Sächsische Staatsbäder GmbH and the Chursächsische Veranstaltungsgesellschaft will be initiated on Saturday, 9 October 2021 at the start of twilight and the shining of the new World of Lights in the Royal Gardens and will then be accessible free of charge every day, 365 days a year.
For Bad Elster, with its extensive historic parks, sophisticated spa architecture and unique "Shortest Festival Mile", has offered a unique recreational landscape since its designation as Royal Saxonian State Spa in 1848, which was deliberately designed for this purpose by Europe's famous garden architects.
"We hope that the stylish lighting will not only give new impetus to the unique Royal Gardens as part of Saxony's cultural heritage, but also attract new visitor and guest target groups who will consciously enjoy the harmonious quality of Bad Elster's stay from the triad of nature, culture & health and thus also contribute to the added value of tourism in the entire region", says Florian Merz, General Music Director and Managing Director of Chursächsische Veranstaltungs GmbH optimistically.
The premises for the lighting control tasks
Seebacher GmbH from Bad Tölz was responsible for programming and manufacturing the complete control systems for the outdoor areas. The challenge here was the size of the area - it extends over a length of approx. 2 kilometres. Furthermore, the customer wanted to be able to control all event areas both centrally and decentrally. For example, the open-air theatre or the music pavilion should be able to be disconnected from the control system during events. This way, the show's own scenes can run during events, while the defined lighting scenes for paths and accent lighting take effect in everyday operation. In this way, each individual area remains optimally usable.
Seebacher scored especially well with its ISYGLT BUS. The system has been on the market for more than 25 years and impresses with its very high failure safety and maximum flexibility. During the two-year installation phase, which proceeded in close coordination with planners, electrical planning and lighting planning, the top priority was: the system must be capable of real feedback at all times, for example, in the case of a failure of pathway lighting sections, etc.
Building technicians can now adjust preset scenes as required via tablet - live on site - and thus directly check the desired lighting effect.
Specials
The forest fountain at the lawn parterre was equipped with LED lighting, like largely everything in the outdoor area in the low-voltage range, as animals and humans can potentially come into contact with the installation here. The fountain was designed as a central point with surrounding light sources. The impression of a water wave was the conceptual goal. Here, self-sufficiently defined dynamic lighting scenes run, which are called up at staggered intervals and fade into each other.
The lighting design
The conception of the modern lighting design has been carried out since 2017 by the lighting designer Ulrike Birnbaum from the Office for Architectural Lighting Design from Görlitz in close coordination with the project management team from Sächsische Staatsbäder GmbH and Chursächsische Veranstaltungs GmbH.
"With this project, we have created a coherent network of light that accentuates places of interest in the Royal Enclosures and connects them in a world of experience full of rich light impressions and enveloping colours. What awaits visitors here in the evening hours starting tomorrow is unique. I know of no comparable area in Europe of this size and quality that is as full of stories and culture as Bad Elster, enhanced by the light scenery", enthuses lighting designer Ulrike Birnbaum.
The intelligent control behind it
All luminaires in the outdoor installation were decoupled from their ballasts. Seebacher placed the control units either in specially heatable floor tanks or switch cabinets so that they were guaranteed to function without interference and protected from the onset of moisture or winter temperatures. A distance of 50 - 80 metres to the lamps was possible. Optimal for functioning outdoor lighting.
Impressive and insect-friendly
The problem of light pollution - i.e. negative effects on the environment caused by artificial light - was taken into account from the very beginning and was thus an important component of the light planning. Above all, with the use of gentle technology, a rather soft lighting intensity and a limited period of use until midnight, reasonable measures were taken to treat the natural environment with care.
„To protect insects, only LED light sources are used that emit the higher spectral ranges, i.e. tend towards warm white tones.“
Light designer Ulrike R. Birnbaum
The following ISYGLT modules were used:
- IP Master Modules MA-IP-2
- DALI Gateways DALI-16B-SL
- DMX Interface Modules DMX512-16B-V2
- System Power Supplies NT24V/5,0A-S
- 8-way Switching Actuator with emergency operating outputs I/O-08H-230V-16A
- 4-way Switching Actuator with emergency operating outputs I/O-04H-230V-16A
- 1-channel LED Dimmer LED-01E-PM-DMX-10000
- 3-channel LED Dimmer LED-03ECM-PM-DMX-3000
- 4-channel LED Dimmer LED-04ECM-PM-DMX-3000
Project participants:
Building owner: Sächsische Staatsbäder GmbH
Electrical planning: Engineering office Karl-Heinz Birnbaum
Lighting design: Ulrike R. Birnbaum
Lighting control: Seebacher GmbH