WE’VE been enjoying a new look of our own at The Trafford Centre this week, as the long-awaited changes to the lighting system in the Main Dome were finally switched on.
Engineers have replaced the old sodium lighting with sparkly new LED lights, controlled by a central computer. Much like your blog page options, the digital RGB system means we can now make the lights any colour we want! The new wardrobe looks incredible – I was at a friend’s flat near to the Centre last night, and the clear cold Manchester evening was lit up by the red dome in the distance.
This is the Dome in it’s usual blue – like the other two domes on the boulevards of The Trafford Centre, it’s been shining in this rather arresting blue for more than ten years. The colour has become a signature of the kind of outre architecture of the Centre.
Then for Comic Relief’s Red Nose Day last weekend, we turned the colour of the Dome to red, and for the first time the profile of the Centre (which is seen by literally millions of eyes in the course of a month, as the cars fly by on the nearby M60 motorway) changed completely.
And on St Patrick’s Day on Tuesday, we turned the Dome green – to match the traditional colour of the festival of the Emerald Isle. (I have to say, the Green Dome is my favourite so far, it looks proper space age!)
Take a gander at the other colours we’ve tried out so far in my Dome gallery, and if you want to read more about it, read this newspaper article.
Before you ask, the scheme cost about £40,000 to create – but in the long run it will save us money, as the new lights are much more environmentally-friendly. They only use a fraction of the power of the old lights, and have to be replaced once every ten years or so – rather than once a year like the old system. So we’re saving on those leccy bills, and helping the planet look better, for longer.
Who says being Green can’t be stylish!!?
