New LED Lighting Project: Monumento a la Revolución – Mexico City Federal District

As response to the architectonic – urban – social studies, the lighting design is conceptualized as a living lighting, implementing a system of projectors with the latest technology, moderate consumption, and highpowerful Cree XLamp® LEDs.

Mr. Omar Bermudez, lighting designer in charge of the project commented:
“Using LED lighting  fixtures nowadays for architectural projects is becoming  very common,  but the market and the wide product offering could  disappoint the expectations,  most of the time if we look for a significant light output source equivalent to metal halide high wattage sources.
There are few manufactures that can accomplish this futuristic idea and Studio Due was the one that has in its product range such powerful LEDs Lighting fixtures.
The main reasons for which I have choosen Studio Due were related to the quality of the products, especially in the light output as well as  in the optical part, the well developed process assembly with an high degree of protection in all the projectors,  and the service/technical support along all the project from the professionals of the brand, always willing to help”

“Properly illuminating historical monuments requires excellent lighting design and precisely designed lighting fixtures,” said Ralf Buehler, Cree Europe vice president. “Studio Due luminaires, featuring Cree’s powerful and bright XLamp XP-E LEDs are enabling the beautification of the Monumento a La Revolución with the benefits of LED lighting.”

The aim was to create different scenes by color changing, alternating and grading their intensities thanks to the DMX programming.

Three different Universes were created to drive the high number of lighting fixtures installed.

Particularly have been installed:
52 DUAL800
21 SINGLE400
48 ARCHILED150

The lighting design is composed with exterior projectors around the four support elements, in the terraces, the dome and the lantern.

“The architecture of the building demanded powerful projectors to reach every square centimeter.
I wanted to get cover in the bottom part, the highest, the most complicated one, and the use of  the Dual 800 demonstrated a large lighting capacity. Using a couple of them I reached the goal with spectacular results placing them around each leg.”, commented Mr. Omar Bermudez.

The DUAL800 has been used to reach an height of 22 meters from the bottom to the top. To grant the effect of a uniform light, the double heads were equipped with diversification of lenses.
10° on the head on the top and 23° on the bottom one. This diversification represent a good compromise between the depth of the light required for the height of the Monumento and a uniform light needed to cover uniformly  the surfaces of the columns.

As Mr. Omar Bermudez commented “The Single 400 were placed in the interior around the dome, with the idea to flood all the space and been seen from the outside, through the loop holes in the façade. One more fixture was placed in the interior of the lantern in the highest point of the monument,  lighting the ceiling and using it as a giant reflector dish”.
The SINGLE400 were used inside the chapel to light the internal structure and to harmonize simultaneously some scenes playing with the dimmer, with the aim to give the sensation as  the whole element is a  “beating giant heart”.

Still Mr. Omar Bermudez, reported “The Archiled accomplished very well the task of high output-small size combination, in the repetitive elements in the upper levels, and the faculty to use different lenses as well as the others from the brand, spot light for a defined strip or wide beam according every case”

Using the maximum versatility of the fixtures, several scenes were designed from “painting” all the monument in one color, passing trough all the chromatic scale or specific, many of them related with the symbolism of the centenary and bicentenary festivities.

Lighting Project Datas:
Architect & Lighting Designer: Mr. Omar Bermudez
Engineer & Lighting Programmer: Mr. Pedro Gonzalez
Supervisor Studio Due Lighting: Mr. Paolo Carvone
Lighting Contractor: Citelum Mexico
Client: AEP, Public Space Authority
Award Date: August 25
Start of work: Sep 13
Opening: November 20
121 total points projector light LEDs
Total charge 57.600 W
5600m meters of cable used
Cost 10mdp

Historical References:
The Monumento a La Revolucion was built as a part of the main entrance of the original project of the Palacio Legislativo that was promoted from the President Porfirio Diaz and his government that in the year 1897, required an international meeting to realize the project for the future headquarters of the chamber of deputies and senators.

The original project was assigned to the french Architect Emile Bernard. The first stone of the monument was placed the 23rd September 1910 from President Porfirio Diaz.
After a significant step in the assembly of the steel structure of the building, the construction of the Legislative Palace was suspended for lack of resources following the revolutionary struggle.

The structure was going to be one of the largest buildings in the city.
It remained unused for several decades.  At that time there was even  the possibility to dismantle the aisles and the complete demolition of the building.

To avoid this, the Mexican architect Carlos Obregón Santacilia proposed to the Secretary of the Treasury, Alberto J.Pani, the use of part of the structure of the dome of the Legislative Palace attempted to erect a monument to the Mexican Revolution ended.

This proposal was accepted and its construction lasted from 1933 to 1938.

But it is also representative of one of the architectural currents of the time, the Art Deco.This style is present in the sculptures that sit on the external sides of the dome,  which were created by artist Oliver Martinez and representing respectively: the Independence, the Reform Laws, the Agrarian Laws and Laws workers.

Other factors clearly influenced by Art Deco lamps are located on the sides of the monument.

Years after its conclusion, this monument was also converted into a mausoleum where the remains of some of the main protagonists of the Mexican Revolution: Francisco I.Madero, Venustiano Carranza, Francisco Villa, Plutarco Elias Calles and Lazaro Cardenas.

About Studio Due:
Studio Due  has been creating lighting systems  for live performances , discoteques  and Television Studios  since 1982.
Through constant research and innovation, and the use of premier-quality materials, Studio Due has established an international reputation as one of the market leaders in the field of professional lighting .
In 1998 Studio due has enlarged its range of products ( moving head spots, outdoor multiray Effects, controllers)  introducing a new line of colour changer specifically designed to satisfy the requirements of the architectural lighting;  the most famous and world wide appreciated among these products is the City Color.
Studio Due  thanks to continuos investments is today able to produce inside the company most of the components needed in the final assembling of their products, that means manufacture high quality fixtures without loosing the flexibility in the production.
Since the late 1980's Studio Due  has continued to uphold its interest on the oriental scene resulting in the opening of a branch in Hong Kong in the early 1990's.
Studio Due  far east, with headquarters in Hong Kong, was created in 1993 in order to represent the italian trademark for all the South East Asia area.