Marek Papke and GERDON DESIGN at NATURE ONE with CHAUVET Professional

	"My focus in designing the Open Air Floor is to translate the club feeling everyone knows from a disco onto a large open-air space. We want the audience to lose themselves in space and time," says Papke. Photo: Julian Huke Photography

NATURE ONE, in Hasselbch, Germany, is a former US nuclear base that now hosts an annual music festival featuring artists such as Sven Vath, Paul van Dyk, Eric Prydz, and Felix Jaehn, all of whom appeared this year.

Ensuring that the production on the festival's main Open Air Floor Stage moves in sync with the music while also accenting the quality of the unique setting is Marek Papke and his team at GERDON DESIGN. For 15 years, they have created the stage, lighting, and content design for the festival.

"GERDON DESIGN works closely with I-Motion, the organizer of Nature One," says Papke, the company's managing director. "It is always a pleasure year after year. After so many years of collaboration, everyone knows the processes, and it often only takes a few iterations before a new design is finalized. What I really appreciate about this festival is this relaxed yet professional collaboration, which allows us to reinvent the Open Air Floor every year and explore new ideas and design approaches together."

This year, the design sought to create a feeling of freedom and openness, so Papke and his collaborators went for a stage design with long, continuous stretches in both rounded and straight forms. "The foundation consists of three large stage arches that span across the Open Air Floor almost like a hangar," Papke explains. "My focus in designing the Open Air Floor is to translate the club feeling everyone knows from a disco onto a large open-air space. We want the audience to lose themselves in space and time. Therefore, a big focus lies on the structure and the lighting positions above the floor and the crowd."

Helping Papke and his team achieve this vision were 206 CHAUVET Professional fixtures consisting of 12 STRIKE V outdoor-ready motorized strobe-washes, 130 COLORado PXL Bar 16 battens, and 64 Maverick Storm 2 BeamWashes.

Artfully wielding these fixtures, Papke conjured up a kaleidoscope of magical looks. His design immersed fans in a tunnel of light that changes colors from bold emeralds to fiery reds to immersive blues. Sometimes, this tunnel of light burned through fog from atmospheric effects. At other times, it was pierced by laser effects.

Given the diversity of artists who perform at NATURE ONE, Papke strives to make this multi-faceted design diverse enough to cover a wide range of musical styles and stage personas. "We build a lot of dynamics into the sets," he says. "We want it so quiet moments can sometimes be lit in a very minimalistic way, which makes the big moments or strong drops all the more impactful.

"Soon after every festival ends, I begin working on the next year's floor design," he says. Usually, I start by sketching a few basic ideas and then build them roughly in 3D to test their impact from the audience's perspective. If the core idea works, I look into how it can be realized using the available truss systems." From there, his design evolves, and he begins to equip in with lights and LED surfaces.

This year, NATURE ONE ran from July 30 through August 2.