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Northwest Airlines Passenger Tunnel 2001 – 2010
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
As of April 2010, the LED fixtures in the passenger tunnel
have been operating 24 hours a day for almost nine years — about 75,000 hours of uninterrupted use — and they’re still going strong.
In 2001, Philips Color Kinetics delivered a programmable, full-color lighting solution that has lasted for over 9 years
with no lamp or fixture replacements.
In October 2001, Northwest Airlines, Inc. unveiled a one-of-a-kind multimedia experience in the Edward H. McNamara Terminal at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW) in Michigan. The terminal’s 800-foot passenger tunnel uses intelligent LED lighting
technology from Philips Color Kinetics to create a unique and pleasing experience for travelers moving between main Concourse A and
Concourses B and C.
SmithGroup, a leading organization of architecture, engineering,
interiors, and planning professionals, created a setting for the tunnel’s
ever-changing, mood-enhancing sound and light environment. The
tunnel features sculpted art glass panels, translucent vinyl stretch
ceilings, spacious 54-inch-wide automatic walkways, and advertisingfree
walls. A combination of 8,180 linear feet of iColor Cove and 230
ColorBlast 12 full-color, intelligent LED fixtures from Philips Color
Kinetics displays three different light shows, each programmed and
augmented with music specially scored and synchronized by Mills James
Productions, a creative media company headquartered in Columbus,
Ohio.
To create an immersive experience within the passenger tunnel, six
rows of customized iColor Cove fixtures, each specially fitted with
a narrow 30° lens, were installed behind custom hand-etched glass
panel. Each row of fixtures was aimed to direct light at a different
angle, while the ColorBlast 12 fixtures were aimed to highlight the
arched ceilings. Besides emergency lighting, Philips Color Kinetics
fixtures produce the only lighting used in the tunnel, allowing
passengers to enjoy a brief respite from the hurries and stresses of
travel.
SmithGroup turned to Philips Color Kinetics for a low-maintenance,
programmable lighting solution that would last for many years without
the need for lamp or fixture replacements. Because passengers use
DTW continuously, SmithGroup needed a lighting solution that would
reliably operate round the clock. Philips Color Kinetics LED lighting
proved to be the right choice: As of April 2010, the fixtures have been
operational 24 hours a day for approximately eight and a half years,
or about 75,000 hours of uninterrupted use—and they’re still going
strong. To put this in perspective, incandescent lamps have a typical
rated life of 4,000 hours, while the best long-life fluorescent lamps
have a maximum rated life of 35,000 hours.
Not only do Philips Color Kinetics LED lighting fixtures deliver effective
light for a considerably longer period of time than either incandescents
or fluorescents, they can be digitally controlled to project dynamic,
color-changing light—something that conventional light sources simply
cannot do. The fixtures’ digital intelligence was a great advantage to
Mills James Productions, who were able to use an external, third-party
DMX lighting console to deliver the lighting effects and coordinate
them with the musical scores.
View the orginal case study on this installation.
View this page in PDF format.
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