Pharos enhances immersive experience at Printworks, Manchester

The vision for Europe’s largest digital ceiling has become a reality thanks to a lighting control system from Pharos Architectural Controls.

Printworks is a vibrant entertainment and leisure complex, located in Manchester’s retail district. With venues including a gym, cinema, bars and entertainment spots, the site is a buzzing place to visit during the day and at night.

An extensive refurbishment of the Printworks site incorporated the installation of a mesmerising 1000m² screen on its ceiling, the first of its kind in Europe. Multi-disciplinary consultancy Cundall were appointed to deliver the project, bringing Pharos on board to specify and supply the control element of lighting that works in harmony with the animated ceiling.

The brief evolved from a white light solution with no colour changing fixtures to a fully dynamic and immersive show including RGBW fixtures. Each piece of video content on the ceiling has a unique lighting sequence that runs parallel to the visuals. To achieve these stunning lighting effects, a Pharos Designer LPC 4 (Lighting Playback Controller 4) has been utilised, alongside two Designer RIO D (Remote Input Output DALI) devices. These deliver the feature lighting for the internal mural, working in harmony with a set of gobo projectors.

The Designer LPC is an award-winning solution, designed to offer complete reliability even when in use 24/7. Featuring individually controllable and independently running timelines and scenes, the LPC is ideal for delivering fully customisable pre-programmed lighting effects for rich and engaging experiences. This made it the ideal choice for the Manchester Printworks.

The Designer RIO D provides a convenient and scalable way to control DALI fixtures and ballasts from a Pharos Designer control system. Each RIO D supports a single DALI bus, which can be used as an output for control and as an input for triggering.

The whole site is connected to Pharos Cloud, providing simple, secure remote lighting installation control and management, from any Internet-connected device, anytime, anywhere in the world.

Experience Lighting, specialists in system integration, designed the control system and provided support to electrical contractors Performance Electrical Ltd, who carried out the onsite works and provided the hardware. The digital ceiling was installed by AV specialist ADI, who also animated the content in collaboration with Manchester based CGI, animation and visual effects specialists Flipbook Studios.

Ryan Sainsbury, Regional Sales Manager for UK & Northern Europe at Pharos Architectural Controls, said: “The addition of this vast digital ceiling has really brought Manchester Printworks to life. It’s drawing in the crowds to this entertainment spot and is a visual that must be seen to be truly appreciated.

Effects like these can only be achieved with impeccable synchronisation of lighting and video content. The solutions from Pharos are ideally placed to deliver this, as they provide everything needed for this large-scale, dynamic AV show.”

Maria Jenkins at Experience Lighting, said: “The digital ceiling at Manchester Printworks is incredibly impressive. It took an expert project team to bring it to fruition, and together we have delivered a unique experience. It will no doubt make Printworks an even more appealing place for those living in the city as well as tourists and visitors.”

Electrical Contractor: Performance Electrical Ltd.
Screen Provider: ADI.
Content Providers: ADI, Flipbook Studios.
Systems Integrator: Experience Lighting.
Lighting Controls: Pharos Architectural Controls.
Photography: Courtesy of Experience Lighting.