High up on the 6th floor of the Time Warner Center on New York’s Columbus Circle glows the stunning logo of Jazz at Lincoln Center. The unique white, teal, and red sign is visible from halfway back to Fifth Avenue, reminding spectators below of the dynamic energy of Frederick P. Rose Hall—the premier jazz venue that is the Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center. This is no ordinary sign, however, but a simple, crisp projection of light.
When Jazz at Lincoln Center was looking for a way to create a sign for their venue that could be seen from far away, they were also faced with the challenge of complying with the aesthetic requirements set by the Time Warner Center. Says Jazz at Lincoln Center lighting director Zakaria Al-Alami, “The upstage wall of the Allen Room is all glass, looking down at the circle and straight down 59th Street—the perfect visibility for our brand. Displaying a sign of any sort in the window was a tad challenging for a number of reasons. The next best thing: Use the back wall of the Allen Room. But we still needed something bright, legible, and economical, and something that would fit right in with the architecture and aesthetics of the room. Building a light box was out of the question.”
The solution: use an ETC Source Four® ellipsoidal spotlight outfitted with ETC’s Enhanced Definition Lens Tube (EDLT) accessory and a custom glass gobo, projecting the logo onto the back wall of the Allen Room. Powered by a 750W lamp, the brilliant optics of the EDLT create a pristinely legible image—registering some 20 feet across—via the 26º Source Four’s field angle. Set on a timer, the logo appears at sundown and is visible through the night. “Shooting from the top of one of our box booms, the throw is over 75 feet,” says Al-Alami. “And it’s still clear and bright and even and crisp. Even through the colors and small image size on the keystone-corrected gobo, the EDLT just punches right through. We knew it was the right answer when ETC New York’s brought by a demo unit, but I’d say the end result outdid even those expectations.”