PLDA UK co-ordinator Sarah Adams approached ACSP's managing director Peter Keiderling to ask if the company would be willing to stage a Workshop for its members. After consulting PLDA member and former president, Paul Traynor of Light Bureau, who suggested that control would be a topic of much interest to the members, this set the theme for what turned out to be a somewhat cold but enjoyable evening at Somerset House.
Traynor contacted Somerset House director Gwyn Miles and lighting designer Patrick Woodroffe - who the company had worked with on providing the architectural lighting scheme for the venue's Edmond J Safra Fountain Court - to request permission to use the installation for the event.
The Somerset House lighting scheme comprises of over 150 Anolis LED fixtures and Woodroffe's use of RGBA lightsources with their potential for colour mixing, brings a theatrical dimension if required, for the various public, corporate and themed events for which the space is utilised all year round. He also wanted the completed scheme to be programmed on a full size lighting console and then transferred to a compact PC system for playback and day-to-day running. For this task, a Jands Vista T4 console and Vista PC controller were chosen.
Using the very same Jands Vista control platform, attendees were able to take control of the venue's architectural lighting scheme - which was supplied, installed and programmed by A.C. Special Projects in 2009.
Says Peter Keiderling, "It was a great opportunity for all the LDs present to gain an insight into the potential creativity and flexibility offered by lighting control solutions such as the Jands Vista for architectural schemes."
A.C.'s technical product manager, Neil Vann, set up three Vista consoles for the PLDA Workshop, each of which was controlling lighting fixtures on a different facade of the Fountain Court.
The Workshop started with a brief overview and 'walk-through' of the console's core features and functions, after which the designers were split into three groups. Each was given a series of tasks involving changing the colours and creating different looks for the building. "We wanted to make it fun, informative, interactive and a proper practical exercise" explains Vann.
He adds that it was the first time the majority of attendees had ever directly used this type of console, "Even I was impressed that all of the exercises proved how straightforward and intuitive the Jands Vista platform is to set up and programme on a first time basis! By the end of the evening, the majority of designers were really comfortable with the basics of the consoles and how to create, programme and edit cues."
(Jim Evans)
