Making a Grand Entrance at Night on the Panama Canal
High-power, energy-efficient floodlights from Acclaim Lighting light up the dramatic entrance of the Miraflores Visitor Center in Panama.
At the Miraflores Visitor Center, visitors can enjoy a very unique Panama Canal experience by watching ships journey down the Canal. Miraflores is one of the three locks that form part of the 51-mile Panama Canal and the name of the small lake that separates the locks from the Pedro Miguel Locks upstream. In the Miraflores locks, five-million-ton vessels rise and drop more than 50 feet in the lock as they make their way through Panama from one ocean to another.
To enhance the waterway experience, the Miraflores Visitor Center features a multi-level museum with four unique exhibit halls, interactive displays, a fully equipped theater, a restaurant with a panoramic view, and three open-air terraces for close-up observations of ships transiting through the locks.
The ample observation decks permit easy viewing of the canal in action with its more than 13,000 boats that transit through the waterway passage annually. With more than 500,000 tourists visiting the Miraflores Visitor Center each year, the Panama Canal Authority (PCA)--an agency of the government of Panama responsible for the operation and management of the Canal--wanted to ensure that the Center was as impressive at night as it was during the day. Specifically, the PCA wanted to showcase the approximately 160-foot wide by 60-foot high exterior facade of the entrance of the Visitor Center at night with rich, precise light.
During the day, visitors could easily see the tan flat exterior surface which was dramatically balanced by a centered large four-story rectangle window with a semicircle top highlighted by bold white framing. The PCA wanted to make sure the entrance was equally dramatic at night.
With the current lighting source near the end of its performance life, Acclaim Lighting representative, LDA Incorporado, based in Puerto Rico, identified exterior lighting options for the façade entrance. Acclaim Lighting’s Dyna Drum HO was chosen as the best suited light sources based on the ability of the fixture to deliver precise illumination control and project rich, robust colors to highlight the façade without the colors bleeding over onto the building’s distinct window fame.
With the support of the Acclaim Lighting’s California based team, a mock-up was set and successfully followed by an order from the PCA. As a result, LDA Incorporado and Acclaim Lighting were chosen to provide the solution, based on product performance, reliability and technical support capabilities.
Power and Precision
Based on their findings, the team specified Dyna Drum HO from Acclaim Lighting in Los Angeles, which delivered distinct bright colors with no shadows during the tests. Dyna Drum HO is a high-power, high energy efficiency floodlight. Its quad color chip provides superior color mixing, including pastels and dynamic white in the same fixture.
Dyna Drum HO features an onboard DMX+RDM driver with Acclaim’s Aria wireless DMX technology and rear OLED display with full text readout to design and implement color schemes. A single hybrid cable carries power and data for clean and efficient installation.
To precisely project the color designs on and around the centerpiece window, Dyna Drum HO has a standard beam angle of 10º degrees with an optional quick-change from 20°, 40°, 60°, 10° x 60° spread lens options for wider applications. It is also IP66-rated for wet applications and has a die cast aluminum housing with glass top lens, with an optional marine coating, making it suitable for even the harshest outdoor environments.
Eleven Dyna Drum HO units were strategically placed in front of the entrance with the approval of the Administrator of the Panama Canal to deliver unique color wash over the entrance, creating a dramatic nighttime effect.
