Brooklyn, NY

Customer: The New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC), a city-run organization dedicated to promoting economic growth, owns and maintains several landmark/heritage properties in New York. Among these properties is Coney Island’s boardwalk and the famous vintage amusement park ride, now dormant for 40 years, The Parachute Jump.

Project & Lighting Challenge: provide a custom LED-powered lighting system for the Parachute Jump, a structure which stands approximately 300 feet high, and is one of the most historically important landmarks in Brooklyn, New York. The system includes multiples of red anodized (matching the landmark red color of the structure) custom designed aluminum fixtures featuring a series of illuminated domes holding LED lights angled at specific positions to bathe the boardwalk, beach, and surrounding structures in glowing and flickering red and amber lights (the lights are visible as far as 2.5 miles away blasting red balls onto the famed Veranzano bridge which connects Brooklyn and Staten Island.

Sub-challenges Met:

• Develop embedded lighting effects within the fixtures that could be operated from a remote DMX console positioned at the base of The Jump, allowing the lights to be dimmed, brightened, set to flicker and fluctuate at –> different speeds..
• Develop a custom mounting system that would not puncture or deface the landmark structure in any way.
• Develop a custom lightning protection system that would not puncture or deface the landmark structure in any way – this challenge was magnified by the fact that the structure is made of steel but was never properly grounded to fend off lightning strikes..
• Develop the system to be robust enough to withstand the extreme weather conditions inflicted year-round on the structure as well as the salt water erosion from the nearby ocean and beach front –> to date (Nov. 2008) the system has been in operation for over 20,000 hours with no maintenance required.

		GALLERY