Thursday, August 18, 2011

"PARTY CENTRAL" GOES MODUS ADAPTIVE LIGHTING









Here's a sneak peek at exciting happenings at the Auckland's Queens Wharf "Party Central" fanzone for the Rugby World Cup 2011.


The hospitality "cloud" on Queens Wharf will host 6000 revved up rugby fans come kick off time in three weeks. Managing the night exterior environment will be no small task with the widely varying needs of entertainment venues, transit ways and pulsing social spaces.


Dynamic digital lighting with selective switching, dimming, fading and sequencing is all possible with Philips Starsense outdoor lighting control and monitoring system from Modus.


Large scale theatrical scene setting to create atmosphere and drama...safety and conviviality for revellers...on-demand high intensity lighting for security and policing, all are at the fingertips with this groundbreaking control approach.


"Adaptive lighting" that moves on-and-off, up-and-down according to the need is nowbecoming a mainstay for progressive exterior lighting systems world-wide. Orchestrated by advanced software and communication systems a PC control "dash-board" facilitates the real-time selection and monitoring of a wide range of technical, environmental and financial parameters.


Municipal managers and event planners have never before had such flexibility at their fingertips. Modus is New Zealand's number one in the application of advanced exterior lighting and control systems.

Monday, August 15, 2011

LED Lighting - Getting It Right.




Modus, alongside Philips Color Kinetics have been a part of the installation of efficient, low maintenance, environmentally intelligent digital illumination systems throughout Aotearoa.   

LED lighting systems create huge possibilities - but we find that there are often still allot of questions around the technology, and most importantly around how to best apply it to individual projects.

Philips Color Kinetics currently have over 34,000 installations in more than 100 countries around the world.  Some of these installations have been running continuously  for almost a decade - with this sort of experience comes an unmatched wealth of knowledge.  

Importantly to us this knowledge can offer architects and designers important insights into how LED lighting can be integrated into architecture to create sophisticated environments that utilize the best available energy efficient digital lighting technologies. 

Philips Color Kinetics have put together a great outline of the pros and cons of LED technology that dispels some of the myths around the technology in a publication called - LED Lighting: Getting It Right.  It's a great resource if you are looking at LED systems for any project - Interior or Exterior.   

If you have any more in-depth queries or would like some assistance with an LED lighting system please give us a call here at Modus and we'd be happy to walk you through a range solutions for your project.

Friday, August 12, 2011

Catbot

I have been told if you don't have a cat on your blog, then you don't have a blog.


Monday, August 8, 2011

International Film fest 2011 - the best.

Well the International film festival wrapped up a few weeks ago now, some may remember last year when I pointed out a couple of films pre-festival. Instead this time I thought I would point out the ones I enjoyed after seeing them.



For those of you keeping track I saw 25 films this year, up from 17 last year. Unfortunately this year there wasn't really any films which I have been telling everyone to go and see. But that doesn't mean there weren't some gems you shouldn't see if you get the chance.

So here are some films I think you should watch and may even enjoy.

Let the bullets fly: Set in china, its a movie about a bandit who pretends to be the new governor for a province and bumps heads with the local "evil mobster/lord" Hidden behind the comedy is a truly epic Machiavellian power struggle between the bandit leader and the lord. Not ashamed of what it is its a fun movie with a good solid story.

Cold Fish: A story about a man from a family who runs a fish shop who has no say or control over his life just drifting on the currents. He meets another fish shop owner who imposes too much control over his life. The ensuing chaos as these two characters collide is epic. This film is a little dark at times so don't say I didn't warn you.

13 Assassins: Easily one of my stand outs, think a big budget western, but with principled samurai who again seek to take down an evil corrupt lord set to become the next Shogun of Japan. This film is 2 hours and the last 50 minutes is just a single full on battle... how full on? A village gets turned into a trap and 2000 soldiers fight 13 Samurai in what is the best battle ever.

The Last circus: A dark comedy about a circus and a love triangle. How dark? Think black hole dark. Shot with a muted colour palette this was the most visually stunning film this year. My favorite part? A clown in a dress leading a charge of militia with a Machete!

Hobo with a shotgun: B grade cinema at its finest, if you liked. Planet terror/Death proof then this film is for you. They have somehow managed to make a B grade film that actually has a story worth following.

I saw the Devil: A revenge film out of Korea, about a police officer who leaves the right side of the law to get a serial killer who kills his wife and unborn child. Truly gruesome at times but at the end is perhaps a cautionary tail about exactly what revenge gets you when you trade everything for it.

The Yellow Sea: Another twisted gangster film out of China, about a young man who takes a contract kill to get himself out of the slums he currently lives in and into a whole heap of trouble when things go sideways. The underdog for most of the movie, he has to figure out who set him up and exactly what went wrong so that the appropriate people can pay.

Troll hunter: The funnest film this year, about a bunch of students who stumble upon a secret government department in Norway that covers up and controls the Troll population. If a scene where a 200 foot troll chases a land rover over a frozen tundra sounds like something that you would like to see then this is for you.

Most of these are "art house films" however I think that all of the above are distributed by Madman who has a really strong presence in NZ so you should be able to find them.

One final disclaimer here, some of the above films could be gruesome depending on your definition, always read the back of the box and remember the decision to watch or not is always yours and yours alone!

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Table lamp - an inversion.

Where traditionally the lamp would be shielded and covered by a shade of some description, this design uses lamps as the shade.

More and more I am liking simple yet different lighting like this, what a great idea.