China - China's Handan Culture and Arts Centre is a green architectural dream, strongly characterised by its stunning hybrid concrete and steel ellipsoid structure, which is also built to withstand substantial seismic pressures.With such a focus on the structure itself - groundbreaking, though not ground-shaking, as it is - the aural niceties of grand theatre design were not left wanting - with a multichannel distributed speaker system installation controlled by TiMax, to meet world-class performance and event sound reinforcement standards.Working together with system integrator, Beijing Rangl Audio Co., Ltd, TiMax distributor Sound Works & Supplies Ltd. was well placed to propose a solution best suited to the particular demands and challenges the venue presented. For the building's expansive Grand Theatre space a d&b loudspeaker system was specified in conjunction with a 16x16 Ti

Denmark - When the staff at Svalegangen, a theatre in the western Danish city of Aarhus, started looking for new control desks for their 200 seat main theatre and touring needs, they weren't expecting to make a quick purchase.

They wanted to find a control system with familiar syntax, in order to ease users' learning process on the new desks, and which would have great support and would be future proofed, with regular software updates keeping up with advances in lighting technology.

After browsing the market for a replacement control desk for about a year, head of lighting Anders Kjems and his team decided on ETC Gio for their main stage and a second for touring, complementing the Ion they previously bought for the 40-seat foyer stage. As part of the ETC Eos line, both Gio and Ion use the same control syntax they were used to from their previous desk, enabling both resident an

USA - Founded in 1826 in Easton, Pennsylvania, USA, Lafayette College offers degree programmes in the liberal arts and engineering to its 2400 full-time students. As a member of the intercollegiate Patriot League, Lafayette has an active sports and recreational programme with modern facilities including Fisher Stadium, home of the Lafayette Leopards football team.

Fisher Stadium underwent a major renovation beginning in 2006 that included additional seating, synthetic turf, stadium lighting, a large press box and a 19' x 35' video display. The renovation included sound system upgrades but the upgraded system did not provide even coverage in the new seating areas and it had neighbourhood spill issues. In addition, many spectators complained that the new subwoofers seemed overpowering.

Last year, Lafayette asked Communication Systems, Inc. (CSI) of Allentown, Pennsylvania to red

France - Opéra Bastille in Paris is one of the two main venues of the Opera National du Paris, France's principal opera company (the other venue is the prestigious Opéra Garnier). Designed by Uruguayan architect Carlos Ott and located at the place de la Bastille, the building houses a 2700 seat theatre as well as a smaller concert hall and studio.

Part of President Francois Mitterrand's 'Grands Projets', Opéra Bastille was one of eight iconic building projects begun in the 1980s to revitalise Paris and create modern 'monuments' to symbolise France's role in art, economics and politics at the end of the twentieth century. The scale of Mitterrand's project was compared at the time to the major building schemes of Louis XIV and as such, The Bastille Opera house constitutes part of one of the most important post-war examples of urban planning in Europe.

It was

UK - A new theatre for The Arts Educational Schools, London (ArtsEd), designed by RHWL Arts Team, has been completed and opened last night in the presence of president and benefactor Lord Lloyd-Webber and with a performance of one of his most celebrated musicals Evita.

The 200-seat horseshoe theatre was created as part of a major programme of refurbishment made possible by a donation of £3.5 million from The Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation. The theatre's design was conceived by RHWL Arts Team who was appointed as architect to deliver a contemporary performance space enabling students of the school to more closely experience West End conditions. The interior design aims to reflect the vibrancy of the School and the energy and enthusiasm of the students.

The new theatre has been completely remodelled within the old space and is now fully accessible at both stalls and

USA - To call the last two years of work on the Long Beach Arena "a renovation" would be a substantial understatement. In reality, the work done by Theatre Projects, working for John Sergio Fisher Architects, Jerry Sherman AIA, and the city of Long Beach, could more accurately be described as a reinvention - breathing new life and new commercial potential into a venue that - at 50 years old - had fallen behind its newer, larger competitors, and found itself unsuited to meet the needs of some potential clients.

As the arena creates a new identity for smaller events - The Pacific Ballroom at Long Beach Arena -and begins hosting concerts, receptions, fashion shows, sporting events, and numerous other events, it will do so at a pace and with an ease-of-use unrivalled in the convention industry. This newfound viability is thanks in large part to a one-of-a-kind moveable gri

Germany - The opening ceremony of the new Walldorf Ärztezentrum (Medical Centre) was a true show with an imposing rig. Show management was assigned to Session Pro, which in turn placed its trust in 32 Clay Paky Sharpys, 48 Clay Paky Alpha Spot QWO 800s, 24 Clay Paky A.leda Wash K20s and 24 Clay Paky A.leda Wash K10s.

The lighting designer and operator Benjamin Schleger had this to say, "The town of Walldorf wanted fireworks and we gave them something very similar. The concentrated beams and bright colours of our light and laser show in the town centre left over a thousand spectators speechless! The extremely precise powerful beams of the Clay Paky Sharpys stood out in particular. The Sharpys were undoubtedly the best choice, and that is why we used them from start to finish."

He continued, "In order to project images on the façade and create a beamshow seq

France - Located on the outskirts of Paris, Dubbing Brothers is a world-leading postproduction centre for adapting major films into foreign languages. Its recently renovated Dolby Atmos mixing stage is now equipped with a Meyer Sound system, which has supported the dubbing and remixing of films including Escape Plan, Saving Mr. Banks and the Dolby Atmos mix of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

"When we decided to update our main 7.1 mixing room to Atmos, we wanted monitoring of the highest quality," says Mathieu Taieb, sales director for Dubbing Brothers. "We knew other major post-production houses were using Meyer Sound for Atmos, so we arranged a session to listen to a Meyer Sound system. We were very impressed with what we heard. The sound was dynamic and precise, warm, and never aggressive. Both bass and high frequencies exhibited very

Austria - Powersoft D-Cell504 IS high power amplifier modules have been specified to drive a 'Wall of Bass' in an Austrian nightclub - as low as 7Hz.

The newly-reconstructed Club SUB, in the city of Wiener Neustadt, set out to integrate a low frequency solution, capable of reproducing a wide range of live and DJ-derived music (Drum 'n' Bass, Dubstep and Techno) and arts presentations, as well as workshops and theatrical performance in a completely revolutionary way.

And since the 300-capacity SUB is located in a heavily populated residential area heavy emphasis needed to be placed on acoustic isolation to avoid noise pollution.

Project managers, Wolfgang Sauter (from pro performance) and Reinhard Nell (from Lambda Labs), were equal to the challenge.

Speaking of the background to the project, Lambda Labs German based director, Steffen Kroschel, said, "The owners' goal

Italy - The 17th century parish church of St. Alexander is a centre of the community in Villongo, an Italian municipality located in the foothills of Lombardy's Alpine region. When the church recently needed to upgrade its audio system, a seamless combination of Yamaha's Commercial Installation Solutions (CIS) series products and the DUGAN-MY16 auto mixing card provided an elegant solution.

Designed and installed by Brescia-based Sil Sound, a main requirement was that the system could handle a 25-piece choir and live band, with the audio being routed to the speakers in the nave, monitors, a pair of exterior horn loudspeakers and to a codec for broadcasting Mass on live radio.

"The system needed to be versatile, reliable and deliver great sound quality, but it also needed to be user friendly so it could be used by church staff who are not audio professionals," says Si

UK - Southend-on-Sea Leisure and Tennis Centre in Essex boasts a large range of facilities including a 150 station fitness suite, 25m swimming pool, world class diving pool with 10m diving board, teaching pool, eight court sports hall, two court sports hall, dry dive gym, four indoor tennis courts, four outdoor tennis courts and an athletics track.

Hosting a wide range of galas, aqua aerobics and teaching instruction, the centre needed a high intelligibility sound system for the highly reverberant diving area and they commissioned audio specialists Soundtrack (Audio Visual) Ltd to design and install it.

Having previously used Community R-Series loudspeakers, Soundtrack knew they would ideally meet the need for moisture resistance and durability and provide the vocal intelligibility required. The well-defined dispersion was also critical in directing the sound accurately to the

Poland - An Outline sound reinforcement system has been installed in the Kashubian Philharmonic Hall, located in the city of Wejherowo in northern Poland.

As well as the multi-purpose concert hall, the striking venue (which takes its name from the local area's ethnic and linguistic community), designed by Arch-Studio and inaugurated in 2012, also features a culture centre with numerous workshops hosting a wide variety of artistic activities.

Leading Polish designer, manufacturer, and supplier of sound reinforcement systems and system integrator, Gda?sk-based Outline distributor Ambient System was called in by the venue's owners, Wejherowo City Hall, to supply and install the audio equipment, as well as coordinating the hall's AV design.

The company's brief was to provide a system which, as well as ensuring high quality sound and even coverage throughout the 400-seat auditori

UK - Lighting specialists, Utopium, transformed Bristol Zoo's award winning gardens into a festive winter wonderland for its Enchanted Christmas 2013, 18-20 December.

Working with the zoo's events team for the first time, Utopium created an immersive visual spectacle illuminating the rich collection of plants and trees. In the Herbaceous Border Utopium produced a truly magical experience installing a lightshow, which was controlled remotely and featured an array of festive-themed lighting that was timecoded to music.

To create this stunning display, Utopium used mainly LED lights including James Thomas Pixel Par 90, Chauvet ColoRADO Quad IP, i-Pix BB4, James Thomas Pixel Line 1044 and Chauvet 230 SR Beams. The team also utilised over 14 Universes of SGM LB-100 light balls to ensure audiences were wowed. The lighting fixtures were controlled using an Avolites Pearl Expert, with

USA - PLASA Focus: Nashville 2014 is set for success with organizer PLASA Events confirming new exhibitors and seminar speakers. The event is taking place on 18-19 February 2014, at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium.

The latest exhibitors to sign up include AC Lighting, Apollo Design Technology, Doug Fleenor Design, ETC, LSC America, Philips Entertainment Lighting, Show Sage and Link. They will share the show floor with other industry leaders including; Aeson, ETC, Bandit Lites, Group One, Chauvet Professional, Lightronics, Elation Professional, Creative Stage Lighting, and Applied Electronics, to name a few.

Three new sessions have been added to the PLASA Focus: Nashville 2014 Professional Development Programme, a two-day programme of free educational seminars and workshops running alongside the event.

Ben Jumper, the owner of Soundcheck, will present After the Flood

Germany - Located in Germany's industrial and business heartland, the Hotel Franz in Essen has the twin purposes of delivering four star accommodation and conference facilities, while also providing jobs for people with disabilities. Ensuring that visitors enjoy high quality background music is a Denon DN-700H Network Audio Player.

The hotel is a subsidiary of Franz Sales Haus, the Essen organisation founded in 1884 to assist those living with disability. Opened in May 2012, the hotel provides jobs for those with disabilities, who form up to 50% of the hotel's staff and benefit hugely from the opportunity.

The Denon DN-700H was installed by Mülheim-based A/V specialists Hamann Media Tec GmbH and supplies background music to the hotel's foyer, lounge and bistro. It was chosen because of its high quality, but also because it can stream audio from a wide range of sources. At Hot

Switzerland - Panasonic System Communications Company Europe has announced a new development in the long-standing partnership with the IOC, as the official Opening Ceremony on 21 December 2013 marked the re-opening of the IOC Olympic Museum to the general public.

Based in Lausanne, Switzerland, the museum houses permanent and temporary exhibits relating to sport and the Olympic Games movement. With more than 1,500 exhibit pieces in addition to audio-visuals, multimedia and other speech mediums, the museum is the largest Olympic Games archive in the world and one of Lausanne's prime tourist sites, attracting more than 200,000 visitors each year.

After 20 years of existence, the institution closed last year on 29 January 2012 for renovations to be completed by the end of 2013. The break in public opening has allowed the museum to look ahead to the 21st century and evaluate how i

USA - Illumination at The Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois, just outside of Chicago, is an interactive holiday light experience where trees become a dynamic living canvas. Created by visual design group Lightswitch and hailed for its creative use of lighting, including Elation LED PAR lights, Illumination is a whole new way to experience the Arboretum in winter and has proved a magnificent way to draw more visitors there in winter months.

A non-profit outdoor museum where over 4,100 different species of trees and other plants are highlighted in special landscaped areas, the collection is brilliantly illuminated using over 300 Elation Level Q7 IP PARs, among other luminaires, provided by Chicago-based lighting equipment supplier Intelligent Lighting Creations (ILC).

"The installation challenges the perception that trees in winter are dead," says Light

USA - The Immanuel Baptist Church in Duncan, Oklahoma, needed a new sound system, one that would maintain speech intelligibility throughout its 800-seat sanctuary at any volume - that would reach well into the back of the church and up into its balcony, yet not create reverberations bouncing off of the untreated sidewalls and concrete-and-carpet floor of the church or from its stained-glass sidewalls. That's a tough challenge, but one met by a RoomMatch loudspeaker system.

FBP Systems, an AV systems designer and integrator with offices in Tulsa and Las Vegas, used just four Bose RoomMatch modules - an RM5520, RM7020, RM9020 and RM12020 loudspeaker, and a pair of RMS215 subwoofers - to create a single point-source cluster mounted above and just ahead of the pulpit that evenly covers all of the church's audience areas. The system was designed and modelled using Bose ControlSpace s

USA - After more than two years of construction, Beverly Hills' first performing arts centre, the Wallis Annenberg Center - or simply 'The Wallis - officially opened in mid-October with a star-studded, invitation-only gala featuring a concert by Natalie Cole. Since then, the centre's primary performance space - the 500-seat, proscenium-arch Bram Goldsmith Theatre - has been hosting a steady line-up of world-class theatre, music and dance performances sonically reinforced via the venue's new L-Acoustics amplifier and loudspeaker system.

The sound system was designed and installed by the Burbank team of Electrosonic, Inc., which handled AV design and integration for the entire complex - including the adjacent 1933 Beverly Hills Post Office, fully restored and repurposed as a grand lobby, café, gift shop, classroom and office space, and home to the 150-seat Lovelace Studio T

USA - The Rondileau Campus Centre Auditorium at Bridgewater State University in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, has been part of campus life since it was built in 1970. Named for retiring president Adrian Rondileau, the centre boasts several ballrooms and conference rooms, a large cafeteria, several common areas, an open access computer lab and a small dining room.

It also houses offices for the Center for Multicultural and International Affairs, the Student Government Association and Visitor Information. But the heart of this multi-use building is its 1,300-seat auditorium, which is used for concerts and theatrical presentations. The auditorium's sound system was in need of an upgrade, and the university put out a request-for-proposal. The system chosen to take the auditorium into the future included RoomMatch loudspeakers and PowerMatch amplifiers from Bose Professional Systems.

Denmark - The SOHO Lounge & Music Bar in Holbaek, Denmark has installed a versatile Meyer Sound system for musical reinforcement. Anchored by the self-powered UP-4XP 48V loudspeakers, the system was supplied and installed by Copenhagen-based PRIME A/S.

"People come to enjoy a beer or a glass of wine in the afternoon, meaning that the audio system only needs to provide low-key reinforcement during daytime hours," says Lars Christensen, venue owner. "At at night, appearances by live bands and DJs call for something altogether more powerful. The system had to be truly multi-purpose, and I am delighted that the Meyer Sound equipment fits the bill perfectly."

Peter Petersen, productions director for PRIME A/S, provided the venue's main lounge space with 12 UP-4XP loudspeakers, four UPA-1P loudspeakers, two 600-HP subwoofers, and three MM-10XP 48V subwoofers. Pow

Singapore - Fashion TV venues are hyped all over the planet with Singapore recently celebrating the opening of the first Fashion TV Club in late October. German company auxweg.com designed the club and technically equipped it with a state-of-the-art sound and lighting package from ADJ Group that includes Elation Professional lighting fixtures and LED video panels.

The global fashion network teamed with investors from the US and Germany and placed the chic night spot in Clarke Quay at the heart of Singapore nightlife. A complete renovation of a previous club, Elation Platinum Beam 5R Extreme moving heads, Rayzor Q12 LED lights, Platinum Spot LED Pro IIs, Design Wash LED Zooms and EPV6 LED panels feature prominently in the club's two main rooms.

Auxweg.com was involved every step of the way from market analysis and concept development to opening and operation. Working on a tight

UK - LSi Online has learned the sad news of the death of the veteran theatre consultant Richard Brett. Richard had suffered from mesothelioma, a form of lung cancer, for over a year, and died peacefully at home on 9 January.

A partner in the theatre consultancy Theatreplan, Richard was also known as the conference director of the International Theatre Engineering and Architecture Conference (ITEAC), which is due to hold its fourth event this year.

After studying engineering at University College London, Richard was trained by the BBC, and went on to work as managing director at Richard Pilbrow's Theatre Projects Consultants from 1967 to 1985, before forming his own professional practice. During his career, Richard was responsible for more than 50 major theatre projects and a large number of more modest performing arts schemes worldwide. He led the development of countless inno

Australia - Since the 1990s, Sydney's Darlinghurst Theatre Company have provided a forum for actors, writers and producers to express themselves on the professional stage. Proud champions of independent, sustainable theatre practice, they were chosen by the City of Sydney to be the managing company of the newly established Eternity Playhouse in Darlinghurst.

The Eternity Playhouse is the result of a four-year renovation of the heritage-listed Burton Street Tabernacle by the City of Sydney, a 126 year old Baptist Church, unused for worship since 1996. In consultation with the City of Sydney and architects Tonkin Zulaikha Greer, Darlinghurst Theatre Company has helped transform the building into a unique, state-of-the-art performance space that lovingly emphasises the building's original features while delivering high-quality technical results.

The Eternity Theatre is named for

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