Ringed by a wall 11km (7 miles) long, Phoenix Park with over 1700 acres in size is Europe’s largest enclosed city park. Its name probably derives from the Gaelic Fionn Uisce, meaning "clear water”, which refers to a spring that rises near the Phoenix Column. Established in 1662 as a royal deer hunting park, it was later landscaped and opened to the public by the Earl of Chesterfield, becoming an important area for biodiversity in Dublin, home to more than 350 plant species, including three rare and endangered types.
The lighting of the Phoenix Column is part of the OPW plan to highlight iconic heritage sites and State buildings in Dublin, such as Kilmainham Jaol, The President of Ireland’s Home, the fountains and front entrance gates of Áras an Uachtaráin, all lit up by GRIVEN’s exclusive distributor for Ireland, Enlighten, a Fantasy Lights Group company.
The lighting scheme approved by the OPW required a full illumination of the column from its pedestal to the phoenix on its top in bright, lively colours with the possibility to switch to different hues according to the occasions. Moreover, owing to the position of the monument right in the centre of a very congested roundabout, the fixtures should be positioned in a sheltered area in order not to dazzle the car drivers nor to run the risk of being driven over. GRIVEN’s exclusive partner for Ireland, Enlighten, based on the lighting design conceived by Gabriel Byrne, chose powerful, but at the same time compact, recessed LED fixtures for the highlighting of the Phoenix column: DUNE MK2 in RGBW version with elliptical optics selection. Controlled by DMX, the units were embedded in specifically designed semi round metal hoods located at the four corners around the column, which at the same time could protect the fixtures from possible collisions and the cars from light leakings.
