David Trubridge Design Create Redwoods Nightlights
“Redwoods Treewalk and David Trubridge Design have partnered to create an iconic nocturnal tourism experience: the Redwoods Nightlights. Incorporating unique creations from Trubridge and his team; the Nightlights is New Zealand’s first design-led tourism experience,” as reported in DARC Magazine. The attraction “required custom made lighting on a gigantic scale in order to bring mystery and magic to the forest experience. Luckily, the team at David Trubridge were up for the challenge.”
“With 30 custom-made lanterns and a network of architectural lights, the nighttime forest comes to life in a magical and surreal experience,” said Treewalk Director Kellie Thomasen.
“The Trubridge design team and the arborists at the Treewalk worked hard to place the 30, 2.5m tall lantern creations in areas embracing the natural beauty of the forest, to provide dramatic contrast for visitors. It will be an experience Rotorua can be proud of.”
“In addition to the Trubridge lighting, over 40 infinite colour spots and feature lights illuminate the 115-year-old redwood trees, forest ferns and pungas,” reports the article.
“We became involved through a previous project with the owner of the Redwoods Treewalk. After experiencing how our existing range of lights come alive at night, they saw the potential of the night time experience in the treetops and asked us to turn their forest into a night-time wonderland,” the David Trubridge team explained.
Due to the nature of the project, the team faced several challenges including having to “source materials suitable for outdoor conditions” and the scale of the creation. “The forest environment is vast compared to the architectural spaces we’re used to… As such, we had to design the lights in a larger form to compensate,” they explained.
“The lower canopy of bush was thick and up to three-metres high and as such, the install team devised ways of swinging the lights into place using ropes so that the forest wasn’t damaged.”
“None of us had anticipated just how well the lights would work in among the giant redwood trees. There is a reaching perspective, accentuated by the overlaying silhouettes of trunks and branches as the carefully placed groups of lights appear in the distance. The scale is so large and yet the effect so enveloping,” said the team.
Located within Rotorua’s Redwood Forest, the Redwood Treewalk is the world’s longest suspended walkway.
Article Source: DARC Magazine, March, 2017
Image Source: Twitter – LINKS
