Built in commemoration of King George V and Queen Mary's visit in 1911, the Gateway of India has stood at the port of Mumbai for over 90 years. The arched monument made of yellow basalt stone stands 26 m (85 ft) high on Mumbai Harbor, overlooking the Arabian Sea.
The Gateway is the first object any ship docking in Mumbai would see. When British rule ended and the last British officials left Mumbai in 1948, they departed through the Gateway.
The Gateway of India is now a symbol of Indian independence, and is the most popular tourist destination in Mumbai, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. Many locals, vendors, and photographers gather to see the striking monument.
The owner of the Gateway, Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC), desired to use light to translate the colorful collage of cultures that comprise India onto the monument of pride in Mumbai.
The high-pressure sodium vapor floodlight system installed a decade ago was not achieving the goal of bringing color and life to the monument. But MTDC knew that an LED lighting solution would deliver dynamic effects, vibrancy, long service life, low operating costs, and a palette of millions of colors.
It was Color Kinetics that could accomplish all of these goals and dazzle the eye at the same time. ColorReach Powercore gen2 (now specified with
ReachElite) and ColorBlast Powercore luminaires were installed to saturate the Gateway with intense washes of colorful light. The colors are used for light shows, festivals, celebrations, and changing illumination themes over the seasons.
Twenty-four Reach luminaires were installed 15 m (50 ft) from the front and back of the monument to wash the walls evenly. Thirty ColorBlast Powercore luminaires were placed just 3 m (10 ft) away from the wall to create sharp accentuated spots of color.
The installation of LED lighting has reduced the connected load by 55%, from 18 kW to 9 kW. The cost saving benefits of Color Kinetics products complemented the request for a colorful lighting solution.
"The monument is one of the most important photographic icons of Mumbai. It is a delight to see a company like Signify taking the initiative of transforming the night time view of the Gateway of India with lights. With a successful record of lighting up historical monuments in India, we are sure that Color Kinetics will yet again liven and transform Mumbai's most admired monument through various possibilities of lighting," said Dr. Jagdish Patil, Managing Director of MTDC.
The new lights were unveiled in a master ceremony with celebratory light shows on January 24, 2014. Color Kinetics and the MTDC helped put Mumbai in a new light.
