Clearwing Productions Unveils the 2012 Lagoon Finale for Phoenix ZooLights

	Phoenix ZooLights' lagoon

ZooLights is an annual lighting spectacular that has been held at the Phoenix Zoo for the past 20 years. This year, Clearwing Productions designed and executed an exciting new event finale encompassing the lagoon. The centerpiece of the lagoon is a custom 25' tall sphere, surrounded by twelve 12' pylons, covered in Color Kinetics iColor Flex MX LED strings. Each of the 4,350 LEDs on the display is individually controlled, allowing for a wide variety of lighting looks, speedy transitions, and mesmerizing reflections on the lake surface, the company says. Surrounding the lagoon are trees wrapped in colored LED strings and custom armatures, immersing the guests with the effect of moving, chasing, and dynamically dancing trees. A 30 universe ETC Mosaic show controller system allows such control that additional architectural lighting can be dimmed when the three-minute main show begins. The Mosaic system also controls a Pharos audiovisual controller (AVC) to sync the lighting and music programs. Clearwing installed the components in an air-conditioned, outdoor-rated rack enclosure that encompassed a custom built touchscreen allowing for different control features. Lighting designer, Ryan Mueller, said " The Phoenix Zoo challenged us to come up with a design for the next 20 years that encircled the lagoon, increased the amount of viewing locations, and modernized the show -- all while retaining the traditions of the past."

In addition to dramatically increasing the production value of the lighting show, the previous audio system was overhauled. Clearwing designed custom lakeside speaker poles complete with two Technomad full range speakers, subwoofer, and outdoor rated amplifiers, which were constructed by United Scenic Productions. Twelve poles are distributed to cover over 900' of viewing area around the lagoon. Audio system control is handled by a Harman BSS system to route, zone, and delay the signals according to their location around animal encounters and nearby displays. Clearwing Productions began designing the new concept with the Phoenix Zoo staff over nine months ago in order to engineer lighting and audio systems, control networks, submersible cabling, outdoor equipment enclosures, and float and weighting systems.