It joins other ADB installations at Paris locations including the Opéra Garnier and the television broadcast studios of the TF1 and M6 channels.
The Opéra Bastille is the product of a competition sponsored by President Françoise Mitterrand to create a new, modern, world class opera house for the city, to mark the 200th anniversary of the storming of the Bastille. Designed by Carlos Ott, it seats 2,723 and opened on July 13 1989.
The first competitive tests between four leading dimmer brands were carried out in November 2009, and in February 2010 the opera's technical team made the decision to award the project to ADB France, specifying ADB's Eurodim Twin Tech dimming system. A total of 906 circuits - including 792 5kW circuits, 42 10kW circuits and 72 Fluorescent circuits - have been installed.
The age of the original dimmers had led the opera to decide that the imminent risk of system failure had become too great. The opera's technical team, headed by Didier Paillet, also wanted to move to a more modern solution that provided greater flexibility and efficiency.
"We looked around at different theatres and different suppliers," said Didier Paillet. "We wanted to see what is contemporary and what is the real state of the art. We also looked at other technologies such as sine wave, but decided to upgrade to new and thoroughly proven technology. At the time of the changeover, our most important considerations were to find a manufacturer with a long track record and with the right product at the right price."
ADB project manager, Henri Marechal, comments: "Mr. Paillet required very special specifications for the dimmers to maximise safety, so every dimmer cabinet has a circuit breaker and every unit has its own interface. Although it could have also been done by a centralised computer-based system, it was also important that the transition time for the Bastille lighting team should be as fast and easy as possible.
"So his choice was to work with ADB to produce a Eurodim Twin Tech dimmer that meets the specific requirements of the Bastille." He added that the dual capability DimSwitch module provides the Opera Bastille with essential flexibility, "to be able to change the functionality of the modules remotely."
(Jim Evans)
