The ultra-modern venue, designed by German architects Drei Architekten, is located close to the shores of the Black Sea, its stunning architecture has some nice twists; the open auditorium can be closed within minutes when rain comes up, by means of 168 rotating, translucent facade lamellas, that protect the audience from sun, wind and rain, but once opened allow full view on the beautiful landscape between Great and Small Caucasus.
The auditorium has a capacity of 10,000 seats circular grand-stands. Visitor lounges, VIP areas, four cinemas, auxiliary areas and technical rooms are arranged below these. The auditorium, with a stage width of 36m., is designed to accommodate the largest productions of international performing artists. The Arena is constructed with an open roof; 25m above ground level, a retractable membrane glides over the entire auditorium where the circumstances require so.
Lithuanian-based system integrator, Scenos Techninis Servisas, was asked to provide the turn-key installation of light, LED screens, sound and stage structures, comprising of over 30 tonne of equipment in total. For this installation, Prolyte, L-Acoustics and Robe were selected as main suppliers. After an intensive installation and testing period, the first demo was organised on 17 June.
"All-in-all, the installation of this project went pretty smoothly," comments Laurynas Paskevicius, managing director of STS, "We knew we could rely on the supplying manufacturers, they're all known for their excellent products and product support, which to us is really what makes the difference for a turn-key project of this size. The build of the truss grids went really well and the stage floor was built in a record time, the Prolyte products are really fool proof and easy to build."
The event stage floor, spanning over 930sq.m, is created from Prolyte StageDex, using a combination of standard TopLine decks and the EasyFrame C support structure. The main stage of 26 x 24m is complemented with a catwalk of 2 x 22m, both supported with the EasyFrame C. A circular stage of 6m diameter on telescopic legs completes the staging.
Above the stage a couple of 30m spans of S66 truss, suspended on 32 2 tonne ProLyft hoists, act as main grid.
Several other truss types, like the H30V, H40V, S36V and S52SV trusses can be used to make different stage set-ups. Two circular trusses and two special triangles will give various options to create stunning stage designs. Using a box corner system will give the arena technicians the freedom to create several truss designs without the need for extra corner types.
To support the trusses, nearly 100 ProLyft Aetos hoists were installed, with either 1000kg or 2000kg loading capacity. To complete the rigging system, a special interface was built to be able to control all 99 channels in one go. Linking to the eight units 12-way Aetos Pro controllers, a ProLyft Aetos Piccolo touch screen control offers full control of all the hoists in the Arena. Simple control set-up and built in safety features make it easy to understand and use for the technicians.
Completing the installation is a complete crowd control system, based on the Prolyte Barriers, which offer different set-up possibilities.
Laurynas Paskevicius states," The fact that Prolyte can supply all these elements needed to complete the hardware elements of the installation is very favourable. It really works like a one-stop-shop. The Prolyte team gave excellent support before and during the installation, which we can rely on them to support us and on the products to offer optimum safety."
With the Black Sea Arena fully up and running it will host a series of events and concerts this summer. Christina Aguilera and the Scorpions will be the first perform there on 30 July.
(Jim Evans)
