A.C. Lighting Provides Lighting for £120m State-of-the Art University Auditorium

10th December 2003

A.C. Lighting's Special Projects division has specified, supplied and installed the lighting equipment for a 450-seat state of the art, multi-purpose auditorium on the University of Hertfordshire's new £120m de Havilland Campus.

The auditorium is the new home for the UHArts programme, which raises the cultural profile of the university through the presentation of professional arts events for the enjoyment of the local community, staff and students. Performances range from classical music, jazz and dance, to theatre, literature and the visual arts.

A.C. Lighting was awarded the lighting contract by main project contractor, Jaylec Electrical Ltd and was asked to develop the specification from an initial design.

Given the venue's truly multi-purpose nature - including lectures, conferences, presentations, drama productions and musical performances - the challenge for A.C. Project Manager Ceri Barraclough was to specify a lighting rig which provided the best overall compromise between these varying usages.

One of the more fundamental challenges for the initial design was to overcome the steep gradient of the stage lighting bridges, which follow the building's modern curved ceiling design. To facilitate the FOH lighting, daisy chained IWBs were employed to provide an elegant solution to the otherwise sloping lighting positions.

Lighting is provided by 24 ETC Source 4 Zooms, 16 ETC Source 4 PARs, 8 Strand Fresnels, 8 Strand Cantata F, 8 Strand Coda, and 8 Thomas Par64 luminaires. Moving lights include 4 TourSpot profile and 4 TourWash flood automated fixtures, along with two long throw PANI followspots. 26 Chroma-Q Original scrollers were also used as a cost-effective solution to delivering all coloured lighting requirements within budget. Effects are provided by Chroma-Q twin DMX gobo rotators, Martin Professional strobes and Spotlight Piccolo FX effects wheels.

Tourmate and Tourmate Multilock connectors are used throughout to provide power distribution from 216 ways of ETC Sensor dimming and relays with RCD protection. Control is provided by a Strand 520i desk, with a patchable remote control option offering 2048 DMX channels. There is also a live desk position at front-of-house.

A more comprehensive and cost-effective star wired DMX and Auxiliary distribution system was also designed, with extra facilities available for touring systems and dimmers. In addition to the fixed IWBs front-of-house, the lighting is supported by flown IWBs together with custom made boom stands on stage.

Additional items to the original specification were also supplied including a large Tallescope, Linebacker cable protector and various items of stage hardware. 2x SpectraLite multi-purpose flight cases were used to provide on-site storage for the various equipment and accessories whilst the building work was being completed.

Having completed the lighting installation ahead of schedule, A.C. Projects also provided the Auditorium's new technicians with extensive hands on training and rigging as part of the company's after-sales service.

For further information on the A.C. Special Projects Division please contact A.C. Lighting on 01494 446000 or email projects@aclighting.com.

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