Discret Fachjournal der Unterhaltungsgastronomie February 2000

Literally the whole world - represented by 65 TV stations - when LOBO presented a gigantic laser projection in front of the Brandenburg Gate during Europe's biggest New Year's Eve party. "Chronology" is the name of the show that takes the spectators at Paris Square on a speedy journey through 10.000 years of human history. The three dimensional beam show that accompanies the especially composed Berlin Hymn is followed by the culminating countdown into the year 2000.

Change of location: "Deutsches Eck" (German Corner), Koblenz. From the beginning of twilight, a giant star of laser beams between the city's most famous buildings floats over Koblenz. A few minutes before midnight, the crowd waiting on the banks of the river Rhine looks in keen anticipation towards the rock underneath Ehrenbreitstein Castle on the other side of the river. The laser specialists from Aalen, Germany take advantage of this impressive natural scenery as projection medium for their countdown into the year 2000. Less than 150 km away, in Trier, Germany's oldest town, the passage into the third millennium is projected on the famous Porta Nigra. Thousands of visitors lie in each other's arms when the laser-drawn "2000" appears on the gate.

What's special: All three events base on the same show concept and are performed synchronously at the same time. LOBO's Art Director, who is responsible for the "Chronology" project: "It is an incredibly fascinating feeling to be aware that a synchronized laser show is performed on different places at the same time and almost the whole world can watch it."

More than one year of preparations

The preparations for the millenium started more than one year ago. A team of 10 specialists produced the spectacular laser show in only three months. The show "Chronology" begins with the Lascaux caves, travels through the bronze and megalith ages, old Egypt, Babylon and China, until the spectator arrives in the age of Jesus Christ as starting point of our calendar. The trip takes you from the vikings to the knights, revolutions, discoverers, inventors finally reaching the modern times. Lobo’s Art Director: "Not only its contents but also its technology meet the requirements of this ocassion. The show can be adapted to the individual needs of our clients with a minimum of financial investment: even after the turn of the millennium the show still keeps its topical interest."

In Berlin the trip ended with the fall of the wall at Brandenburg Gate, in Koblenz it ended at the "Deutsches Eck" and in Trier at the Porta Nigra. Due to the modular system it was also easy to lead the journey through the Koblenz of the Roman Empire.

Difficult conditions at Brandenburg Gate Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Richard Pollak, technical director of the Millennium Show in Berlin: "It was an enormous challenge to create a huge projection in front of Brandenburg Gate without covering or even touching the gate. At any time the gate had to be accessible for the public and any potential dangers even in case of storm had to be excluded. Even worse: due to numerous events for the 2 million visitors along the 4 km long party area the ambient light level could hardly be controlled."

This task could not be realized with conventional solutions. Any kind of screen of the requested dimension was too wind sensitive. For safety reasons, the screen could neither be attached to Brandenburg Gate, neither could it be installed at a truss system with ground support. The best solution was not possible: to integrate the laser system in the gate. LOBO finally found an unusual way to solve all the problems at once. In the middle passage of the gate a Laser Truck container was positioned, providing the most powerful laser on the market. This truck could have been removed within a few minutes, if necessary.

20m wide and 11m high Water Screen

A 20 m large and about 11 m high Water Screen was installed in a 25 m distance. A 22 x 5 m water basin was sufficient for the Water Screen developed by LOBO as it consists of individual elements of water jets to be aligned to a rectangular wall of water. Thus, the passage through the gate was free and any direct danger for the visitors was excluded even in case of the worst weather conditions. During the projection the Water Screen itself was almost invisible so that Brandenburg Gate situated behind could be integrated as impressive backdrop of the show. The pictures projected on the Water Screen really seemed to float in the air. When the Water Screen was not used, the only 50 cm high water basin was completely hidden by the visitors. In order to avoid difficulties in case of extremely cold temperature, the 60.000 l of water in the basin were heated all the time. In addition to the central laser system, fiber-fed laser projectors were installed behind the Water Screen in order to optimize the three dimensional beam show accompanied by 10 high capacity fog generators including ventilators.

Projection on about 10,000 square meters

A few days before the event, the torrential rains of the Hurricane "Lothar" terrified the LOBO team. Due to the rising water levels of the Rhine the "Deutsches Eck" was nearly flooded. Just in time, however, the heavy rains stopped and the set-up could start. The projection surface was far from being perfect: the shape and vegetation of a 150 m wide and 75 m high rock in about half a kilometer's distance did not provide ideal reflection conditions. The giant 10.000 m2 projection could only be realized with the latest laser technology: two 10 Watt diode pumped solid state lasers (Viper). Their green light appears five times as bright as conventional lasers due to the high sensibility of the human eye in its color range. At the same time, the chosen solution could equalize the adverse projection conditions. A compact LOBO Laser Truck containing the complete technical equipment as well as a small control room was installed in Koblenz. A further Laser Truck was used at the millennium event in Trier. This system with its redundantly working components enables short set-up and dismantling times and highest security standards. Laser beams connecting Franz Castle, Ehrenbreitstein Castle, Fort Asterstein and Constantin Castle with each other were announcing the millennium show as from the beginning of dusk. The bunch of beams floating over the city was realized by 4 high capacity argon lasers with special optics installed in Ehrenbreitstein Castle. Due to the special beam characteristics of this laser type the beams could be seen from almost any point in the city and its surroundings. Just before midnight Koblenz joined LOBO's countdown into the next millennium...