Underwater dining

"The look is as if you are underwater," explains Tony Rimmer of the London-based firm Imagination, of his lighting design for Triton's restaurant aboard the Disney Wonder, the second of the Disney-owned cruise ships. "There is a rippled-water effect on the ceiling."

Triton's is one of the newly designed spaces on the Wonder which differs from those on the first Disney cruise ship, the Magic. Triton's understated watery world has replaced Lumiere's, with its French decor and large crystal chandeliers. "Triton's is very different," says Rimmer, who opted to use various shades of cold cathode tubes for the water effect. "I used pure colors, and then dim them from one level to another. It is very subtle."

In the same vein as Animator's Palette, a restaurant on the Magic and Wonder that goes from a black-and-white look to full color during the course of a meal, the colors in Triton's also change while guests are eating. "It begins as cool pastels, then moves to deeper, richer colors for the main course and dessert," Rimmer explains.

The cold cathode tubes are placed in circular patterns on the ceiling and behind Plexiglas with filigree metalwork to create the look of large skylights. The tubes in the ceiling run from light to dark blue and green, while pure-white cold cathode was used in coves around the edge of the ceiling for contrast.

"The ambient light when you walk into the room is light and airy," Rimmer says. "There is very little in the way of color at first and we don't give away the look of the ceiling yet. People can sit down and get comfortable before the color starts to change."

Also in the ceiling of the room are Concord tungsten-halogen recessed downlights with 50W MR-16 lamps. Their flush-mounted fittings are painted a cream color to match the metal ceiling which has fine perforations to allow the air conditioning to waft softly into the room. Erco 150W wall washers with silver reflectors are also flush-mounted to accent a wall mural of Ariel (The Little Mermaid) and Neptune.

End-emitting fiber optics with 150W illuminators are used to backlight small disks of glass in the restaurant windows which open onto the ship's deck. The illuminators are hidden behind panels under the windows. Wall-mounted sconces of glass-reinforced plastic and metal with single-end 150W halogen lamps were custom-made in Venice. "They are ornate with along stem like a swirled alabaster ice cream cone," Rimmer explains.

A Strand Premiere architectural control was used to program the lighting system, which includes Strand EC90 dimmers that are located in a rack in the lobby area near the main entrance to the ship. The programming includes a chase sequence in a row of Concord downlights. These follow the ship's captain or any of the Disney characters that might make an appearance during dinner.