Düsseldorf’s 240m-tall Rheinturm tower was the setting for a sky-high laser projection and light show in June to promote Deutsche Telekom’s extended 5G network. The telecommunications company worked with German event management agency DO IT! to realise the show, and they in turn commissioned AO Creative to help conceptualise, design, supply the fixtures and technology, and execute the display.
Overseen by AO Creative’s Marco Niedermeier in collaboration with JALD Jerry Appelt Licht Design and Beacon, the project brought together AO’s team of design and technical specialists based in Germany. The team included lighting designer Jerry Appelt, who created a detailed scheme to light the concrete Rheinturm in a beautiful wash of magenta – Deutsche Telekom’s brand colour. Alongside, Laserfabrik facilitated laser-projected branding on the ‘trunk’ of the tower.
Atop the circular crown of the building, AO’s high-performance FALCON searchlights were positioned in concentric rings to spread bright, controlled beams of white light out across Düsseldorf, symbolising the transmission of the 5G signal and visible from far across the city. The FALCONs were positioned with twelve on the inner ring, and twenty-four on the outer ring.
Alongside the FALCON fixtures, luminaires from SGM and Elation provided additional beam effects for viewers closer to the tower.
Lighting designer Jerry Appelt controlled the lighting from a FOH position 100m from the base of the tower. He comments: “This was a fantastic project to work on, from DO IT’s initial brief to creating the lighting design and ensuring the show would be visible from even 10km away. The FALCON searchlights provide brilliant output and it felt great to see the effect on the night. The client was very happy with the results.”
DO IT and AO provided a drone solution for aerial photography, including a behind the scenes of the light show, which was shared widely on social media. Deutsche Telekom says it now has 12,000 5G antennas live, with 40,000 expected to be switched on by the end of 2020.