OSRAM and A&O Technology at the World Alpine Skiing Championships

With the World Skiing Championships, which ran from the February 7-20 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, A&O Technology added another project to its portfolio. Together with Osram, the company filled the night sky above the world famous ski resort with a bridge of light linking the main competition venues.

During the opening ceremony in the Olympic Stadium and each evening's medal presentation ceremonies, a bridge was fashioned in the night sky linking the three main competition venues: the Olympic Stadium, Kandahar, and Medal Plaza. The effect was achieved through the deployment at each of the three venues of high-powered searchlights the beams of which intersected at a point in the night sky equidistant from all three. With blue beams emanating from the Olympic Stadium, red from the Kandahar downhill run, and burnished gold from Medal Plaza, the bridge featured the colors of the FIS (Fédération Internationale de Ski), which organized the event.

"With the world championships this year being held in our own country, we feel it is incumbent upon us as a company with a rich tradition to ensure through the use of state-of-the-art lighting technology that the event will be an unforgettable experience," said Wolfgang Gregor, Osram's director of customer relationship management, speaking before the event. "Furthermore, through a project in the Galapagos Islands, we are rendering the overall production carbon neutral."

For the light show on opening night, a total of thirty-eight Falcon searchlights were deployed. They were equipped with OSRAM XBO 7 KW lamps. A further 4,500 colored Osram high-powered LEDs in the Olympic Stadium and Medal Plaza contributed additional color and effects to the opening ceremony and medal presentations.

As was the case with the illumination recently of the 60'-high bronze statue of the Goddess of Bavaria during the 200th Oktoberfest in Munich, the technical realization of the light show was the responsibility of A&O Technology. To create the bridge of light, which were visible nightly from 5-10pm in the sky over Garmisch-Partenkirchen, over 60 FALCON xenon searchlights were used. Eighteen Falcon 6000 CMY units were positioned in the upper tier of the Olympic Stadium, while three Falcon BEAM 7,000W and eight Falcon FLOWER 3,000W units were placed on the ski jump, the landing area of which was converted through the use of video projectors into a giant canvas. At the take-off point, the beams of ten Falcon BEAM 7000W units composed the pier of the Olympic Stadium span of the bridge at Gudiberg. At Medal Plaza in World Championship Park, three Falcon Beam 7000W and twelve Falcon Beam 3000W units formed a second pier. The third pier was sculpted by nine Falcon Beam 7000W searchlights in the Kandahar Arena. The opening show paid tribute to the contributions to world culture of local figures such as composer Richard Strauss and children's author Michael Ende.