Rideau Street FX Poles Downtown Rideau B.I.A. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Submission to: IDA’s Awards Committee 2015 Downtown Rideau BIA presents…Rideau Street

Rideau Street FX PolesDowntown Rideau B.I.A.Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Submission to:IDA’s Awards Committee 2015

Downtown Rideau BIA presents…Rideau Street FX Poles In 2014, after two years in development, the Downtown Rideau Business Improvement Area (DRBIA), with the support of the City of Ottawa, installed a prototype multi-media “programming pole” (FXpole) on Rideau Street (at Waller Street). The prototype is testing new infrastructure that is being installed on Rideau Street to promote festivals and events, welcome conference delegates and create artistic encounters supporting Downtown Rideau’s brand as Ottawa’s Arts, Fashion & Theatre District. The prototype pole is a “stand-alone” pole designed to be part of a computerized network synced together and controlled by the DRBIA from its office. The network is connected by fibre optic cable. An additional five FXpoles will be added on Rideau Street between Dalhousie and King Edward before the summer of 2015. Another six FXpoles will be added between Dalhousie and Sussex by 2017 as part of the LRT Rideau Station streetscape process. Upon completion of the project, there will be a total of 12 FXpoles on Rideau Street for 6-blocks from Sussex to King Edward. In addition to having district branding signage at mid pole height, each FXpole has a programming and promotional kiosk at street level and theatre projection (FX) lighting at the top of the pole. The kiosk contains: audio, video, speakers for satellite and live music, Wi-Fi connection with social media interaction potential, a LED digital monitor and a backlit print poster panel. The kiosk’s digital posters will promote festivals and events activity for visitor awareness. The kiosk’s print poster will contain “welcome messages” to major conferences or events and way finding maps to assist visitor orientation. The FX lighting includes 2-4 fixtures per pole containing four colour wheels and four gobo wheels per fixture that can be animated (move) for projecting images, animation and colour onto surfaces such as buildings, trees and the sidewalk. The FXpoles’ lighting effects supports Downtown Rideau’s nighttime lighting vision for the Arts, Fashion & Theatre District by creating an artistic lighting program for both visitors at street level and in hotel towers to view and enjoy nightly, seasonal light shows on Rideau Street. Light shows are a set length of time that will loop, and will, in and of itself, become an attraction on Rideau Street. The Downtown Rideau BIA is especially excited about the tourism potential to destination market the district in to stay in Downtown Rideau with hotel views of our nightly FX lighting spectacle looking down onto Rideau Street. By 2017, Downtown Rideau will literally be able to “paint Rideau Street” red with our FXpoles for Canada’s 150th birthday with our FXpoles!



The DRBIA’s Executive Director, Peggy DuCharme conceptualized and developed the multimedia programming FXpoles for Rideau Street as part of the City of Ottawa’s Rideau Renewal Project. Peggy has been instrumental in working with community stakeholders and the City of Ottawa to create an arts-appreciative vision for Downtown Rideau, and to develop programs and initiatives that support and showcase Downtown Rideau’s cultural assets. Other FXpole project team members include: •Joshua P. Moon -- Partner, Perley-Robertson, Hill & McDougall•David Atkinson -- Planner / Urban Designer, City of Ottawa•Lynn Cox -- Lighting Design Consultant•Martin Valliant and Ryan Carman -- Solotech •Stewart Bailey -- Founder, Intu Design•Martin Conboy and Scott Windsor -- Martin Conboy Lighting Design (MCLD) •Tracey Shipman -- Senior Project Manager, GBA

Downtown Rideau BIA is grateful for the support we have received from the City of Ottawa project team of the Rideau Renewal Project under the Leadership of Randy Dempsey, P. Eng., Senior Engineer, Infrastructure Projects Infrastructure Services and Community Sustainability, City of Ottawa. EvaluationInitial response to the FXpoles is very positive. In addition to performing as intended, there is indication that the FXpoles have also had a positive social environmental impact at the test location. Rideau at Waller is known to be a blight and unwelcoming location that is now animated and full of colour with people “playing” in the FX lighting and choosing to pass through the space to enjoy the light shows – rather than avoid the space, as previously was the case. DRBIA InvestmentOver the last two years, the DRBIA has invested over $116,000 on the FXpole prototype project ($30,000 in research and development and $86,000 on manufacturing, installing and testing). Cost to install the remaining five poles of Phase One is projected at: $225,000 (Phase Two to follow in 2016). Below is acknowledgements and photographic/video materials supporting this submission:On 2015-02-17, at 8:07 PM, Maggie Schofield from Downtown Calgary wrote:Hi, Peggy! I wanted to touch base to find out if you can share any documents related to the lamp post you launched at the IDA 2014? We might be interested in using them for a few areas of downtown Calgary. Anything you can share around design specs, capabilities and costs would be really helpful.Many thanks, Maggie Promo Video and Photos of FXpole prototype (Rideau @ Waller) – attached.





















VIDEO LINKhttp://www.downtownrideau.com/fx-pole/

Documents

Rideau Street FX Poles Downtown Rideau B.I.A. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Submission to: IDA’s Awards Committee 2015 Downtown Rideau BIA presents…Rideau Street