Global fashion retailer Zara celebrated its 50th anniversary with ’50 Songs of the Sea’, a kinetic installation located within the 28m diameter dome of the Cúpula Atlántica Observatory in A Coruña, Spain.
Created by British designer Es Devlin, the performance comprised three revolving floor sections lined with seating from which guests could gaze upon the creative projection overhead.
We first fabricated the base structure, a spider frame made using box section steel and fitted with plates to accommodate the wheels of the revolves.
We then fabricated the three revolves, fitting each frame with four nylon guide wheels. Each was powered with a drive and six motors with rack and pinion, a pressure wheel maintaining the mesh. They were controlled using our Qmotion Galileo console, each adjacent revolve moving in opposite directions.
The flooring combined stock and custom-made staging units, single skinned with 18mm flame resistant plywood and topped with 6mm marine ply (moisture resistant to protect against warping in the humid conditions). The final layer incorporated 240m of high-shine dance floor, the revolves routed near their edge to provide a rebate for the LED lighting that was inset into the surface.
In the roof of the venue, we first installed a frame that followed the curvature of the dome. Steel wire rope hung from 82 points in the roof to suspend CHS tube rings, to which we fitted rolled double shotgun keder rails. Acoustic panels were fitted, made from 12mm ply that would reflect the audio back into the venue. These were layered with a bespoke printed PVC mesh, 21 triangles of material installed from the top and self-tensioning as they rolled down the widening keder extrusion. The final step was the installation of a capping to the centre of the roof.
Having completed the structure, we worked closely with the client and the creative teams on site to finalise the set, map the creative projection, and test the automation.
And with the set being subject to frequent use in a public domain, two maintenance visits were included in the schedule to ensure the continued safety and suitability of each performance.
