The Customer – Chester Zoo in partnership with Wild Rumpus
Chester Zoo is one of the largest zoos in the UK, covering an area of 130 acres and housing over 35,000 animals. Over the last 9 years, it has developed a new Christmas tradition of holding a special winter celebration known as The Lanterns whereby visitors get the chance to experience the zoo after hours on a specially designed trail which transports them into a magical, illuminated world of wonders.
To make this fabulous, animal-inspired, annual adventure come to life, the zoo works with multi award-winning Wild Rumpus, a social enterprise that specialises in large scale outdoor arts events. With their tagline being “Where arts and culture meet the natural environment”, there is no one better to be entrusted with collaborating with Chester Zoo.
To create this memorable family-friendly experience, Wild Rumpus drew on their extensive knowledge of previous events to design an immersive expedition which would enable visitors to explore a multitude of different zones, including Zebra Grasslands, a Cactus Desert and Underwater. This year they also came up with the idea of developing an area which would transport travellers magically across the solar system. With Glow Inflatables’ reputation for working with some of the worlds biggest brands, they were the obvious choice for Wild Rumpus to join them on their magical journey.
“Where arts and culture meet the natural environment”, there is no one better to be entrusted with collaborating with Chester Zoo.
The Challenge - Create a giant LED solar system to withstand British winter
Making a success of The Lanterns was even more important this year after closures and restrictions impacting visitor numbers. Jon Turley, Head of Guest Experience at Chester Zoo, stated that special events such as The Lanterns were absolutely crucial in securing the future of the zoo and their species-saving work.
Even though The Lanterns event was eventually able to take place once some restrictions were lifted, numbers of tickets were still limited to allow for safety and social distancing. There would also need to be less physical interaction than in previous years. It was therefore imperative that the lucky few had an amazing, out of this world experience.
The team at Glow was approached by Wild Rumpus with a request to create an entire solar system which would include the sun, the eight planets and even give a humorous nod to Pluto represented as a bit of an outsider. Wild Rumpus were keen to make visitors feel that they were soaring dreamily through space. As always, the team at Glow were more than happy to help bring the concept of ‘The Observatory’ to life.
“As always, the team at Glow were more than happy to help bring the concept of ‘The Observatory’ to life.”
The Solution - Glow Inflatables collaboration
Once Wild Rumpus had shared their vision for The Observatory with the creatives at Glow, our team travelled to Chester Zoo to carry out a site survey. From this we gained a comprehensive understanding of the project and managed to calculate the optimum scale for the most effective installation whilst ensuing that all the required specifications were met. With a little artistic licence for practicality, the ten spheres were all made in different sizes in accordance with each planet’s real size, the largest of which being the sun at 4.5m in diameter. The spheres were also carefully adjusted in order to align with each other on the prefabricated metal stands which had already been supplied by the customer. This would give the impression of the planets floating magically in space above the heads of the festive families.
As well as being visually breath-taking, the planets needed to be resilient to the harshest of British winters as they we going to be in place for at least two months. They were ultimately built to withstand gusts of wind of up to 50mph.
A specialist electrician was also on hand to ensure that the light output was perfect for each planet, making an LED rig with dimmers so that each light could be balanced perfectly in accordance with the weather conditions. The bespoke internal lighting systems created a vibrant, eye-catching display to brighten up the darkest of winter evenings.
“This would give the impression of the planets floating magically in space above the heads of the festive families.”
The Outcome – A vibrant and durable cosmic display!
This year’s addition of The Observatory to Chester Zoo’s famous Lanterns has been a real success. For those families who have been desperate to get out for some festive sparkle, they have not been disappointed. Visitors have been treated to a jaw-dropping visual display of the solar system, providing everyone to have the opportunity to forget the restrictions of the last few months and allow their imaginations to run wild. The public have really appreciated the remarkable scale of the installations, conjuring up some much-missed magical excitement just in time for Christmas.
The Lanterns at Chester Zoo featured in The Guardian as one of the best Christmas Light Trails in the UK this year, calling it “Brilliantly inventive.” As such, Glow Inflatables are proud to have been involved in delivering this fantastic concept, literally bringing some light into an otherwise rather dark year.
The Lanterns at Chester Zoo featured in The Guardian as one of the best Christmas Light Trails in the UK this year, calling it “Brilliantly inventive.”