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Robe Helps Crystallise New Škoda Octavia Launch

Lighting designer Michael Kuehbandner worked closely with creative director Achim John from Jack Morton Worldwide and the show direction team from Quinton’s Concept for the VIP launch of the new Škoda Octavia car at the Prague National Gallery’s Palace in the Czech Republic.

Assisting Michael was over 180 x Robe moving lights – a mix of MegaPointes, Spiiders, LEDWash 1200s and DL4S Profiles.

The eye-catching event was production designed / produced by marketing and communications agency Fischer Appelt in collaboration with leading global brand experience specialist, Jack Morton Worldwide.

Michael was working directly for adhoc engineering, German-based interdisciplinary events and technical specialist, who were responsible for coordinating the full technical production and implementation led by Maik Ragheb as technical director.

The Octavia is considered the “heart & engine” of Škoda and is the top-volume benchmark model for the iconic Czech brand which is now part of the Volkswagen Motor Group. 2020 marks the 60th anniversary of the first Octavia being produced.

The ethos of the Octavia 4 is “crystalline, sculptured and timeless” an elegant design embodying the practical, comfortable, economical, and sustainable spirit of Škoda.

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Two of the cars were driven along a ‘crystalline light tunnel’ created by Michael using the MegaPointes and Spiiders to the sounds of “Opus Octavia” a specially composed piece by Jazz musician Jesse Milliner.


"Opus Octavia" was performed by the Prague Philharmonie (Pražská komorní filharmonie) orchestra and the Time for Three string trio


The ‘crystalline light tunnel’ was approximately 25 metres long and in the centre of an overall performance space 60 metres long by 25 metres wide which also included all the tiered guest seating and platforms for the amassed global press and media.

The walls at the back of the seating tribunes were clad with projection screen surface, and there was a large LED surface at the back of the presentation stage which flew up to reveal the orchestra. This LED screen also tracked sideways to make room for the cars when they were driven onstage.

A network of trussing – trimmed at 9 metres above the performance area – was installed in the roof to provide the lighting positions, and the key areas that Michael needed to light were the crystal set piece, the light tunnel and the reveal stage.

The crystal was lit with around 12 of the MegaPointes and 12 of the Spiiders.

The MegaPointes’ two prisms and animation wheel helped Michael create the specific crystalline ‘sharded’ look that the client wanted for this stunning creation.

The other 52 x MegaPointes and 82 x Spiiders were mainly distributed on the trusses above the crystalline runway.

The MegaPointes were used to produce a variety of intense beam looks required to make the crystalline light tunnel a dynamic environment and a dramatic visual centrepiece of the reveal sequence.

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They were also used in conjunction with 16 specially adapted moving mirror devices installed around the space and some static mirror panels along the floor of the runway.

Michael conducted a test setup at Robe Germany in Munich to determine the best gobo / prism combinations and measure the output at various distances


The Spiider also proved its flexibility with Michael utilizing it for powerful beams as well as with the flower effect from the 60W central LED for softer more ephemeral looks.

The ten DL4S Profiles were rigged above the stage and used to illuminate the various speakers during the presentation section of the event, and the 24 x LEDWash 1200s, a long-time favourite in the world of automotive lighting, were used to highlight the cars on the revolves.

All the Robes plus another 400 odd fixtures were used in the show space and the reception / feeder room, car display and after-show areas.

They were controlled by two grandMA2s. The show console was programmed by Markus Axmann and run to timecode, while the second console ran all the periphery area lighting and was operated by Marek Papke.

The event’s lighting equipment was coordinated by AVE-PRO, the set was built by Nuessli and the architectural event space designers were Formkontor.

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