The new 600-seater home for Scotland's symphony orchestra, constructed in the centre of Glasgow, is described as a 'world-class' venue which has been acoustically balanced to very strict standards. Opened in late 2015, it was built with funding from a number of public and private sector organisations.
The RSNO approached professional technology equipment reseller, A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) Ltd., to propose a lighting solution for the new venue, with quality of light being a key element of the requirements.
"We were asked to deliver a solution that would be suitable not only for the audience, but also the orchestra, with their need for clean and pure light with no shadows - ensuring their sheet music was easy to read," says AC-ET's Ian Ferguson, who led the design of the Chroma-Q Inspire house lights system at the venue.
He continues, "The lighting also needed to be tuneable, allowing the colour to vary between cool and warm white. This reduced any reflection off the sheet music, taking away the risk of eye strain. In addition, the venue wanted to be able to add subtle coloured effects to the unused concert platform when small ensembles or soloists performed."
Other key requirements included selecting a fixture that produced little or no heat - to ensure a comfortable physical environment for the musicians - and which was totally silent in operation, to meet the orchestra's strict acoustic requirements.
Taking all of these criteria into account, Ian was convinced that the Inspire house lighting system would meet the RSNO's very discerning technical requirements. He then used the DIALux evo lighting design software to model the new auditorium and calculate the type and number of fixtures needed.
A six-month trial was then undertaken with a number of fixtures, so all members of the orchestra could evaluate the quality and temperature of light, along with the reduction in heat - as well as to ensure that the original light calculations were correct. After the trial proved to be a success, AC-ET then supplied 134 Chroma-Q Inspire RGBW narrow lens (32
