With The Force Awakens breaking movie box office records all across the galaxy, Star Wars is once again gripping the public’s fascination like something straight from a Jedi mind trick. (“This is the Star Wars we were looking for!”).
But well before Force Awakens premiered back in December, the owners of the brand-new, not-yet-under-construction Alamo Drafthouse cinema in Omaha, Nebraska already had a plan (and one not stolen by Rebel spies): They wanted an amazing theater lobby that would look like it came out of the original Star Wars trilogy in time for their opening last fall.
At this movie theater, you’ll find sixteen-foot-tall, LED-lit lightsabers on the exterior, a space station-inspired concession stand, and Imperial-style light panels and directory signage throughout its silver-black-and-gray corridors.
However you’re really going to notice the giant, ten-foot-diameter iconic Death Star space station hanging overhead in the center of the main lobby. And off to its right is a faithful recreation of villain Emperor Palpatine’s throne that acts as a photo op and a control for the “firing” of the operational-yet-non-dangerous “miniature” Death Star.
According to Tyler Calabrese of the Alamo Drafthouse, they wanted to employ a theme for their new complex built around an iconic film that could immerse guests. With a new Star Wars film around the corner, their decision was made.
The company responsible for the design, construction, and installation of this Star Wars experience was Dimensional Innovations in Overland Park, Kansas.
Dimensional Innovations really lives up to its moniker. Housed in a 70,000-square-foot facility, they’re an award-winning group of designers, engineers, artists, fabricators, and self-professed “tech geeks” that create truly immersive, noticeable, and one-of-a-kind iconic brand experiences—everything from environmental graphics to cutting-edge A/V. Counting clients ranging from Google to Verizon to Disney, they “design, make, and innovate.”
“We’re all about brand exposure and brand experience,” says Brad Woods, practice director at Dimensional Innovations. “We try to put a unique spin on everything we do. The whole point is to completely immerse you in the experience.”
Dimensional Innovations got involved in this star-spanning project when they were contacted by Calabrese, Kip Coleman (building architect, concepts) of Elevation Architects in San Francisco, California, and General Contractor Sheldon Oxner of NCB in Lenexa, Kansas.
“They first told us what their vision was and shared some early concepts with us,” says Woods. “They didn’t just want to put a foam ball up there and call it a day. They wanted to know how we could pull off this experience.
“So we got heavily involved in the design and build aspects to bring everything to life.”
Designers and engineers collaborated and created mockups on the computer of concepts Elevation Architects had sent them (as well as envisioning interior illumination and effects). They used these designs to figure out how to fabricate and install these pieces.
For the initial on-site survey, Dimensional Innovations supplied these mock-ups to their project manager, a project engineer, and an installer to check out where everything would be located.
Since the Death Star was going to need to be shipped on the back of one of their trucks for a three-hour journey and then fitted inside the cinema, it was built as two separate hemisphere-shaped pieces using a concave mold and a chopper gun and sculpted from there.
The Death Star is a combination of 1/8-inch-thick fiberglass and vinyl. “Our artists researched and mapped out the look of the Death Star and designed its outer appearance on the computer,” says Woods. “We then printed it out as large format oval graphics and applied them to the fiberglass surface.”
Fabricators inserted eight LED light bulbs and then drilled 2,500 holes into the structure where they ran fiber optic-type light cables through them to achieve an illuminated effect.
Now while this Death Star can’t blow up the planet Alderaan, it does “fire” from its crater (as shown in the movies) to a single point in the ceiling thanks to strands of a proprietary system of green LED lights hooked up and sequenced by Dimensional Innovations. “We originally experimented with actual lasers,” says Woods, “but to be able to view them from the ground, we would’ve had to deal with heat issues, as well as provide some kind of smoke or fog system. That wasn’t going to work inside a building, so we went with LEDs instead.”
The Emperor’s throne acts as the “launching point” for the LED firing of the Death Star. Sit down in it and you’ll find a control on one of the arm rests with a “firing” button initiating the charging sequence. “You hit the button, and the whole sequence begins with the laser fire sound from the films,” says Woods, noting that speakers were placed in the ceiling to aid this effect.
The throne is hand-sculpted two-pound EPS foam that’s been sanded down to perfection. Dimensional Innovations also employed a few hot wire foam cutters here, when necessary. They then applied Matthews Acrylic Polyurethane paints to it.
Next they added seat cushions. “We used plywood reinforcement at certain points in the throne to make sure the foam wouldn’t be dented or compromised by weight,” says Woods. “We then applied several thick layers of hardcoating to create a tough shell over the Foam-Core.”
(Note: Dimensional Innovations also worked on interior and exterior signage for the decidedly non-Star Wars Liquid Sunshine bar/tap room off to the side of the lobby. Both environments are distinctive without distracting from each other.)
Dimensional Innovations installed the interior work, while local partners were called in to help with the exterior signage. “We provided them with a site supervisor to help,” says Woods.
This project brings up struggles that can happen when dealing with brand-new constructions—mainly scheduling. “We couldn’t install the Death Star or the Emperor’s throne first,” says Woods. “They needed to be element-protected, and there needed to be climate-control when we did those,” says Woods.
So the install was performed in stages. The exterior signage went up first. The lightsabers appear to be jutting through the ledges, but they’re actually three separate pieces. The glowing portions are translucent white acrylic with warm-white GE Tetra® MiniMAX LEDs inside them.
After the interior décor was set up, it was time for the fiberglass Death Star and the EPS foam Emperor’s throne.
Dimensional Innovations had to figure out how to lift the top half of the Death Star into place and then bring the bottom half up and fasten those two halves together.
The finished fiberglass Death Star weighs approximately 600 pounds, so Dimensional Innovations set up 1,000-pound wire rope-style mechanical hoists that permanently reside in a steel framework above the Death Star in the theater lobby. They then lifted the hemispheres into place twelve feet off the ground. Additional bolts were fastened from within the trench area of the Death Star to secure the two hemispheres together.
“To operate the hoist, we plugged a controller into an electrical socket in the lobby,” says Woods, noting that the hoist will be used to service the Death Star, if necessary, in the future.
Woods says that the testing of the laser, trying to figure out how to get the Death Star firing sequence correct, and connecting the Death Star to the Emperor’s throne were some of the more challenging parts of this project.
“Our Innovations Lab was figuring out the laser at the same time engineering was figuring out how to make the basic hoists,” he says.
Eighteen months after the initial design ideas were first milled around, reaction from moviegoers and theater management has been extraordinary. Calabrese credits this immersive experience for making this Alamo Drafthouse unique in Omaha and throughout the Midwest.
Dimensional Innovations is extremely proud that their expert craftsmanship is even leading theatergoers to question if these are actual props from the original Star Wars movies.
When Force Awakens leaves theaters, this Star Wars-themed lobby will still remain in place to be enjoyed for many years to come.
So this project required a bit of extra “care” since Woods knew that Star Wars fans can be pretty demanding when it comes to details. And he wasn’t just worried about the general fans—he was also worried about his own staff.
“I considered the ‘geek factor,’ meaning die-hard fans are going to want us to get this perfect and will let you know if it isn’t,” says Woods. “But we also have designers, sculptors, and fabricators on staff here that are Star Wars fans, and they wanted to make sure we were replicating everything as close as possible too.”
In the end, Dimensional Innovations trusted their feelings, and the Force was definitely with them.
By Jeff Wooten
Photos: Dimensional Innovations
