Dutch tower flashes with innovation
The Brainmarker located in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, is a 40 m (131 ft) tower located in the city's Brainport Eindhoven region. Standing beside Van der Valk Hotel Eindhoven, the tower is a prominent feature of Brainport Avenue, an intersection of several major motorways. The structure symbolizes the location's importance as a technology and manufacturing hub for the Netherlands. The Brainmarker’s signature LED billboards are of special importance: they work as dynamic 24-hour mass media tools that display messages to more than 4.2 million passersby per month.
As part of a regionwide project to transform Brainport Avenue into an exhibition of Eindhoven's expanding economic development, the Dutch government commissioned Netherlands-based architectural lighting firm Livingprojects to renovate the Brainmarker's exterior. Livingprojects set out with the goal to create a superior lighting solution that would support and draw attention to the billboards, which are installed atop the Brainmarker. Because the billboards are outside, Livingprojects had to select and install lighting fixtures that could maintain optimal performance in changing weather conditions.
Livingprojects determined that LED luminaires were ideal for illuminating the printed glass and metal exterior of the Brainmarker. The firm specified a Color Kinetics solution, using custom 60-node strings of iColor Flex LMX gen2 (now specified with Flex Compact gen3, RGB), flexible strands of individually controllable full-color LED nodes. Specially designed aluminum composite mounting plates, each holding four Flex nodes, were placed in the corners of the Brainmarker’s steel beams. To create the appearance of distance between plates, remaining nodes between plates were programmed black. Glass panels were laid atop the steel frame and all aluminum mounting plates, allowing the radiant glow of 2,000 color-changing nodes with clear flat lenses to shine throughout the Brainmarker and illuminate Eindhoven’s nightscape.
Color Kinetics lighting solutions highlight Eindhoven's technological brilliance, accentuating the Brainmarker's expansive LED advertisement display, which creatively engages businesses while supporting the region's economic interests. The LED light strands also offer long-term durability and no maintenance outside of routine cleaning, supporting Brainport Eindhoven's efforts to promote sustainability through green initiatives.
Providing a striking view for onlookers, the newly lit Brainmarker shines at the center of Brainport Avenue, proof of Eindhoven's commitment to fostering economic growth through design, innovation and technology.
