Two centuries of rock, one strand of colour.
Falkirk Tunnel is 690 yards of solid rock on the Union Canal, with deep rock cuttings at both ends and a towpath running right through it. Dating back to 1818 — earlier than the railway tunnels, and presumably the oldest tunnel in Scotland — it sits close to the iconic Falkirk Wheel. The towpath has been renovated with a handrail for pedestrians and cyclists; through the roof, water seeps constantly.
Scottish Canals upgraded the tunnel’s functional lighting to programmable white LED — and wanted a dynamic RGBW layer on top, to give the space an atmosphere worthy of its history. MaxiLED Lighting worked with Scottish Canals, a lighting designer and the contractor to deliver a system that could be programmed freely and still endure the tunnel’s testing conditions.
The MaxiLED Large Globe RGBW DMX festoon was selected for its IP68 sealing against the permanent damp, and for its installation method: hung on catenary cable, the strand needs only a minimum of fixings drilled into the two-hundred-year-old rock. Pharos control runs the colour programme from scene to scene.
