Germany - The much-anticipated world premiere of the new Audi Q3 took place on 16 June at the Audi Forum in Ingolstadt, where lighting designer Chris Moylan of Sunrise Studios delivered a striking design using Elation’s Proteus and Pulse series fixtures, a look that matched the buzz of the premiere.
The unveiling, staged outdoors on the Audi Piazza, blended architectural elements with high-impact visual effects, creating a fittingly vibrant atmosphere for guests, employees, and media. Featuring a centre stage area encircled by a driving track with a ‘container city’ in each corner, the audience viewed the reveal from each side, as well as from the centre facing outwards. Moylan created a lighting concept that both framed the open-air architecture and delivered the spectacle necessary to showcase Audi’s latest models, with the new Q3 being the centrepiece.
“There was no way to have a proper lighting rig to light the cars from both sides while maintaining the open atmosphere,” Moylan explained. “So, we decided to use a mix of IP-rated lighting on the outer containers combined with an outline of pixel bars from the inner circle lighting outwards. This way we had functional lighting, architectural highlighting, and effects using one unified design.”
At the heart of Moylan’s setup were 80 Pulse Bar L fixtures, 30 Proteus Maximus, and 25 Proteus Excalibur moving heads, supplied through Elation’s German partner LMP Lichttechnik Vertriebs.
The Pulse Bar L, with its hybrid of RGB and cool-white LEDs, added uplight, effects, and architectural support that tied the space together. Capable of piercing projections of white or coloured light or special effects, zone control makes it ideal for direct-view applications, while end-to-end interconnection makes mounting and positioning quick and easy.
The 50,000-lumen Proteus Maximus provided powerful illumination across the outer side of the driving ring, as well as the speaker positions, while the Proteus Excalibur, a powerhouse beam fixture, created striking beam architecture to extend the design into the night sky.
Moylan is a longtime user of Elation’s IP-rated line and emphasised the importance of reliability for an outdoor premiere: “Elation’s IP-rated gear has a strong track record, which means no worries that adverse weather will affect our design.”
The Audi Q3 reveal transitioned into the Audi Q3 Summer Reveal public festival, held from 17-18 June, where live music, culinary experiences, and family activities continued the celebration of innovation and community.