One of the challenges involved was creating a rich backdrop for the 150,000-pound monument to space travel – the first of the 6 space shuttles ever made. The lighting design team created a 4-foot long replica of the Space Shuttle and pavilion to study various lighting schemes and properly gauge the large scale of the shuttle. By testing five interior tent colors, the team was able to demonstrate that a rich blue backdrop provided the desired dramatic contrast with the stark white Space Shuttle.

The Enterprise is illuminated by (130) 70-Watt PAR30 Metal Halide accents located on (8) custom built light towers.  The surrounding “Blue Horizon Line” is created with (380) linear feet of 3-lamp T8 fluorescent striplights with “night blue” color filters, carefully concealed behind the perforated perimeter walls.

The exhibit allows visitors to walk under the 137-foot long Enterprise which hovers over the ground at a mere ten feet.

Focus Lighting and Depeña custom designed five thirteen-foot tall LED light boxes, between 6 and 8 feet wide, to be installed throughout the lobby space.  The light boxes were programmed to display abstract reflections of passers-by using data collected from custom camera tracking software developed by Focus Lighting.

The installation seeks to engage the visitors and promote a sense of community through “group interactivity and high-tech playfulness.” To achieve this, Focus Lighting programmed the boxes to be responsive to multiple factors. Colors vary by time of day and the scale of the “pixels” corresponds to the visitors’ distance from the box.  When there is no movement within their vicinity, the light boxes replay animations from previously recorded interactions with visitors. Despite these abstractions, the visitors’ “reflections” are of accurate scale and proportion so that they can easily recognize the forms as their own.