Boulevard de la Croisette, Cannes, France

Boulevard de la Croisette, Cannes, France

May 05, 2008

The renowned Boulevard de la Croisette runs for two kilometers along Cannes’ Mediterranean shoreline in Southern France and is the center of the city’s tourist activity. Known for its luxury hotels and high class shops, the Croisette is also home to Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, site of the Cannes Film Festival.

Providing shady respite just in front of the Palais des Festivals are a stately row of tropical palms whose natural beauty the City of Cannes wished to emphasize. Lighting designers M. Alain Guilhot, Thierry Guilhot (Architecture Lumière-groupe Citelum) and M. Gilles Genetelli were tasked with the job and turned to dynamic lighting to bring out the area at night. The installation also allows the space to celebrate the excitement of the Cannes Film Festival each May.

Inground 200™
Guilhot and Genetelli chose the Martin Inground 200 color changer because ‘it’s the only powerful color changing projector on the market that is made to be buried.’ Fully weatherproofed, the Inground is safe for installation in pedestrian areas and has full drive-over capability. Additionally, the Inground’s choice of lenses allowed the lighting designers to customize it depending on the characteristics of the object to be illuminated.

Twenty-two Inground 200™ fixtures are located at the foot of the palms, full spectrum CMY color mixing versions and six-color versions. The six-color system offers a selectable palette (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and white) or designers are free to incorporate their own color shades. The system also provides programmable dimming for 0-100% intensity control. A single color version of the Inground 200 is also available.

Guilhot and Genetelli used the Inground’s standard color set at Croisette and were quite satisfied with the color spectrum, different angle possibilities, and ease in changing the beam angle. Gilles Genetelli comments, “I am very happy with the final result. The Inground 200 is definitely the product I was looking for, especially for the large spectrum it can provide.”

The installation was completed in January 2008 by electrical company Pignata with the help of Domo Lumidis, who also did the programming.

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