Page 48 - Designing Ways 264

LIGHTING

Bringing to life a project as elaborate and audacious as the Skating Loop presented its share of challenges. The team wanted the installation, which would
occupy the entire Place des Festivals, to have a positive visual impact not only for skaters on the ice, but also for people admiring it from outside the rink. The
design of this impressive aerial structure had to include supporting the weight of bystanders plus 4 inches of ice, coolant…and an 8,300-pound Zamboni!
Photo credit: Victor Diaz Lamich for MONTRÉAL EN LUMIÈRE

A Winter Experience Like no Other in the World. The Montréal en

Lumière Festival Opens a 1000-Foot-Long Aerial Skating

Trail with an Ambience of Immersive Sound and Light

Montreal, Canada

olled out for the first time in 2022, musical atmospheres, constantly heated ensure skater comfort: a chalet, sheltered
and back from February 16 to comfort, and an optimal skating experience from the cold, for putting on skates, as
RMarch 5, 2023, the Skating Loop, a in an urban environment. well as a covered, heated terrace at the
unique multimedia experience produced All of the senses are engaged during SAQ Bistro, where visitors are invited to
with major support from Canada the Skating Loop experience. From the relax after taking a few laps.
Economic Development for Quebec elevated structure, rising two and a half
Regions (CED) and Tourisme Montréal, metres above the ground, skaters are Skating Loop facts:
attracted nearly 25,000 Montreal skaters treated to a breathtaking view of the urban • Comprises 300 metres (1,000 feet) of
last year. It quickly became a must- panorama, enhanced by large-scale video artificial ice
experience at the Montréal en Lumière projections on the facades of surrounding • 85m3 of ice is on a cooling mat
festival, presented by Loto-Québec in structures, including the Wilder Building • The elevated structure rises 2.5
collaboration with Scotiabank. Now, this and the UQAM President Kennedy metres (8.2 feet) above ground level
gem of Québec engineering is ready to Pavilion. Hundreds of LED tube lights add • Offers breathtaking views of the
be presented for the first time to visitors enchantment to the icy course, while a urban panorama
from around the world. state-of-the-art sound system disseminates • Path is illuminated by 265 LED tube
a playlist compiled just for the event. lights
Creating a “first ever” • Features giant projections on
An original and innovative concept, Heating things up north of the 49th surrounding building facades
designed with Montreal’s winter-loving parallel • State-of-the-art sound system
spirit in mind, the Skating Loop inspires Erected in the heart of the city's
citizens to return to downtown Montreal and bustling social and culinary hub, Place des • Maintained by a custom-built
reclaim space vacated after the pandemic: a Festivals, the Skating Loop is surrounded Zamboni, unique in Canada!
play of illuminated installations, exciting by heated oases specially designed to

48 Issue 264 • dw