We’ve come a long way in holiday decor from the days when Christmas trees were lit with real wax candles. We now not only have colored electric lights but the ability to project any holiday image, from snowflakes to Santa, on the side of a 20+ story building. You can take your exterior architectural lighting to another level with gobos and the right gobo projector, transforming entire plazas and shopping malls with the flick of a switch. If you need to decorate a large shopping center, public space, or high-rise, these tips will help you make the most of your gobos and create holiday magic the whole community will remember.
Make it snow from 20 stories up
Even if you live in Florida, you can have a white Christmas with a projected snowfall. Illuminate a prominent building with snow falling down its facade in a realistic vertical movement. Let it snow in an outdoor plaza with a flurry of giant snowflakes, rotating in wide arcs across the trees and storefronts.
Transform your downtown square into a Winter Wonderland
Decorating a large outdoor space is challenging and can be cost prohibitive. Most decorations risk damage from the elements or sometimes even vandalism. Using gobo projections to light up a space after dark is an affordable and sustainable way to quickly transform a plaza or downtown square. Try wrapping a clock tower in a projection of red and white ornaments or create a moving walkway of giant snowflakes. Draw attention to a particular storefront with a strategically placed projection of a giant tree or stack of gifts.
Hold the most impressive (and easy) tree lighting ceremony
So you’re in charge of this year’s tree-lighting ceremony … How on earth are you going to put lights on a 100-foot tall tree? Not to mention the disaster if half the bulbs burn out just in time for the grand reveal. Take some of the pressure off and trim the tree with projected lights. You don’t have to stick with colored dots either. Try projecting giant colorful ornaments, candy canes, and stars. Really wow the crowd with changing colors and rotating images, creating the illusion that the tree is slowly revolving in place.
Recommended Projector
The GoLux 1000 Z Large Scale Gobo Projector creates the most dazzling light shows for wide architectural surfaces. It allows you to project a moving pattern across a very large surface, such as a multi-story building, outdoor plaza, or ice-skating rink. The projector’s extra-wide rotations create a more realistic effect for falling snow and adds depth to otherwise flat surfaces.
Recommended Holiday Gobos
There are plenty of holiday gobos to choose from but these are a few classics that are both versatile (they work well on a variety of surfaces) and guaranteed crowd pleasers:
- Blue snowflakes
- Town Square Christmas Tree
- Snow covered city
- Snow
- Celestial Tree Balls
- Colored Gifts
Bring those visions of sugar plums dancing in your head to life with gobo projections this holiday season. Incorporate movement and color into your exterior architectural lighting, delighting customers, visitors, or the entire community.
