NoiseGate was working for event creative agency brandmood who produced the show for their end client, ASFINAG Bau Management GmbH, the organisation that manages the country’s nationwide autobahns system. The artistic director was Beda Percht.

The steel-reinforced concrete composite bridge is part of a new four-lane western bypass on the A26 autobahn spanning the Danube, railroad tracks and two main roads while circumnavigating the city of Linz. Its main cables are 500 meters long, and a total of 24 x 15 cm diameter steel cables carry the bridge structure weighing 13,000 tons.

Donautalbrücke connects the existing traffic networks – north and south of the river – via tunnels and has been under construction for 5 years.

When Thomas landed the job of designing the lights, he knew he would need the brightest and most powerful lighting fixtures to highlight the 15-minute all-action show performed by specialist puppet performance company DUNDU featuring 8 aerialists tightly choreographed and performing from the bridge to a specially composed soundtrack.

He immediately thought of Robe’s most powerful moving lights to highlight the action as well as the beautifully elegant spans of the bridge.

Lighting positions were limited. After a site survey, Thomas and his team proposed the installation of two lighting banks either end of the bridge, each with 20 x iFORTES, working in conjunction with 20 x iFORTE LTX’s and 20 x iBOLTS positioned along the bridge span.

While the PA system was anchored in place with trusses cantilevered off the bridge structure, the lights were positioned precisely on flightcases standing at predefined intervals along the span.

“This is a BIG bridge, and I needed huge, bold, bright, amazing fat beams of light for impact, and I knew these Robe fixtures were the perfect solution,” stated Thomas.

As well as seriously potent lights, Thomas needed weatherproof fixtures, so these were the two prime considerations – output and IP ratings. He also wanted to use one band of lighting, and furthermore appreciated the LTX’s 3.5° - 52° zoom range to be able to highlight specific areas on the opposite sides of the Bridge.

These were combined with 120 small static wash lights to create the show lighting, with all luminaires run via a wireless Lumines data system.

Thomas worked alongside Thomas Kloibhofer from depot-zwei on the lighting programming and show design.

Donautalbrücke was a collaborative design by schlaich bergermann partner (sbp), Baumann + Obholzer Ingenieure and gmp Architekten who won an international competition back in 2003. There are no pylons as the single span suspension cables are anchored directly into the steep rocky slopes of the Danube valley, making it the longest ground-secured suspension bridge in the world … and a uniquely innovative engineering achievement.

This was the first bridge that Thomas had lit, an experience he really enjoyed, including its many galvanising aspects and the ability to fully utilise these very powerful and flexible Robe products.

NoiseGate, based in Fürstenfeld, has many Robe products in its inventory and is very happy with the brand. In addition to the FORTES and iFORTES, they have Spiiders and LEDBeam 150s, which Thomas notes “always work very well whatever the scenario”.

Linz Bridge was also his first time using iBOLTS and he was suitably impressed. “I loved the output, the massive beam and the general look of the fixtures and its effects,” he commented.

He started planning lighting of this event around 5 months in advance, as soon as NoiseGate was confirmed as the equipment supplier for both lighting and audio.

Photo Credits: Markus Rathmair, Thomas Maier