UK - From a long list of hundreds to a shortlist of five, including women at the top of their game in architecture, planning, construction and contracting, Anne Minors was awarded the 2014 First Women Award for The Built Environment for her success in four continents and her pioneering of theatre consulting in Kazakhstan and Turkey.

Described as 'the doyenne of the international theatre consulting world, creating wonderful pioneering performance spaces,' by Gwyn Miles, ex-director of Somerset House Trust and ex-head of projects of the Victoria and Albert Museum, Anne has spent 30 years combining science with art to produce spaces that look and sound beautiful and inspire further creativity.

Bestowed at the London Marriott Hotel in Grosvenor Square in June, the First Women Awards were created by the CBI and Real Business to increase diversity in the workplace. The broad canvas

Australia - Wizard Projects, supported by the engineering team from Technical Audio Group (TAG) have installed a large 140-element Martin Audio OmniLine system into St Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney. The system needed to be commissioned in time for the visit by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, as part of their Australia and New Zealand tour.

St. Andrew's is the oldest cathedral in Australia - and one of the city's finest cathedral examples of Gothic Revival architecture - however such beautiful architecture comes at an acoustic cost with challenging reverberation times making clarity and evenness of coverage across the congregation a constant issue.

Having struggled with a sound system that failed to deliver clear speech intelligibility and live music reproduction, with the Royal appointment imminent, the church's decision to install a new system reached emergency status.

Ross

Australia - Sydney's Rockdale Town Hall has recently undertaken a major refurbishment, designed to reinvigorate the City's regional arts and cultural hub.

The works provided fresh life to the historic complex and provided the City with a state of the art venue that can accommodate a varied array of events from musical concerts and variety shows to business, community and social events.

The auditorium's beautiful Art Deco detailing has been lovingly restored, and is now accompanied sensitively by a new PA and communications system from The P.A. People. It was imperative that the historical and architectural values of the venue were as important as the necessity for a modern multi-function auditorium.

Cabling was run as the renovation team opened up the floors and roof spaces, building in infrastructure to serve modern needs without disturbing a classic look.

So as not to in

Trinidad - Michael Pereira of Trinidad & Tobago based creative design and engineering practice Streamline Systems enthusiastically specified Robe and Anolis lighting fixtures for a new installation at the landmark night destination Club India Nex 5.0HD in Chaguanas, Trinidad.

This was an integral element of a major refurbishment and technical upgrade to the 800 capacity club which has enjoyed great success and a high profile over the last five years. The owner wanted a fresh new look to ensure they keep at the forefront of trend-setting on the island.

Pereira chose 10 Robin LEDBeam 100 moving lights and two Robe Faze 800 FT Pro hazer for atmospherics; together with 72 Anolis ArcSource 4MC LED fixtures for the ceiling grid, with another 16 used to downlight a set of glass-bead chandeliers.

The LEDBeam 100s are positioned at the front and back of the stage areas and are used i

USA - The Union League Club of New York City was founded by Union loyalists during the Civil War and has grown since then to become one of the city's most exclusive clubs, where the public-minded members of New York's upper class meet away from the bustle of urban life.

Its elegant clubhouse on East 32nd Street and Park Avenue in Manhattan thus serves as an oasis, and the Union League recently refurbished many of its rooms to add modern audio/visual technology where appropriate. Based on its functionality and rock-solid reliability, AV integration firm Audio Production Services specified an Ashly ne24.24M Protea DSP Matrix Processor and an Ashly ne4250.70 Network Four-Channel Amplifier for the Union League Club's new system.

Although most of the clubhouse areas provide a refuge from technology, club members requested video and audio in one of the large lounge spaces, the nearb

USA - Since its founding in 1926, The Atlanta History Centre has helped preserve the legacy of the South's largest city and its surrounding region. Through a grant from The Goizueta Foundation, the Centre has expanded its community outreach efforts with a historical theatre series.

The History Centre's 400-seat Woodruff Auditorium was planned as the venue for this programme, but significant upgrades were required to support that use. This led Cape Dixson Associates (CDAI), the Atlanta-based AV and acoustical consultant that has worked with the Centre on its audio and acoustical needs for 25 years, to choose a Panaray MA12 modular line array system from Bose Professional Systems.

CDAI had helped the History Centre upgrade the acoustics of the 1960s-vintage space when the auditorium was renovated in 2001; however, that renovation budget did not include upgrading the audiovisual

Canada - On the shores of Lake Ontario, Queen's University's Isabel Bader Centre for the Arts - the newest addition to Canada's cultural landscape - is set to open its doors this weekend, marking the culmination of more than seven years of planning, design, and construction.

Theatre Projects collaborated with Snøhetta and N45 Architecture on the design of this 80,000 square-foot arts centre that will provide Kingston, Ontario with a state-of-the-art teaching facility, a world-class showcase for student and professional musicians, and a breathtaking architectural addition to the university campus.

The $65m centre, which combines historic preservation and modern architecture, features a concert hall, flexible theatre, orchestra rehearsal room, film screening room, film production studio, classrooms, and a full suite of support spaces.

The centrepiece of the lakeside art

UK - The Grade II* former circus theatre, Brighton Hippodrome, tops the 33 theatres on The Theatres Trust's Theatre Buildings at Risk Register 2014, launched at the Theatre Royal Brighton on 18 September. The annually published register features the most 'at risk' theatre buildings across the UK under threat of demolition and redevelopment, theatres that lie abandoned, neglected and decaying, and theatres in use at risk of closure.

Brighton & Hove City Council has approved demolition and redevelopment plans for the Grade II* Brighton Hippodrome to create a cinema multiplex and restaurant. Designed by Frank Matcham the theatre is of national significance as one of only three remaining Victorian circus theatres in the UK. The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government has yet to decide if he will call-in the planning and listed building applications and hold a

USA - At Walnut Ridge Baptist Church in Mansfield, Texas, the congregation holds two distinct worship services. The first is a traditional worship service, but the second is a more contemporary worship environment.

Wanting to upgrade their lighting system to better encompass all the aspects of both services, Walnut Ridge turned to Gemini Light Sound and Video to oversee a full lighting renovation. Fully understanding what the church wanted to accomplish, Gemini installed 74 Showline SL PAR 150 ZOOM luminaires from Philips Entertainment.

"Gemini previously worked with Walnut Ridge Baptist Church on another lighting application and for this lighting renovation they were looking to mainly do two things," began Todd Graham, project lead installer. "First, they were looking for something more efficient than their current system which consisted of high-wattage traditi

China - Known for its modern architecture and artistic design, the Macau Tower, located in the Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, is a landmark that features an eloquent banquet hall which was recently revamped using Martin Professional Lighting fixtures.

Featured in this lighting renovation are four Martin MAC 350 Entour LED lighting fixtures, 16 Mac Auras, six Rush PAR 2 RGBW Zoom cans, an M2GOTM lighting console and an iOS MAXRemote. This package is centred on compact performance, as each of these lighting elements take up minimal real estate, but are able to emit powerful beams of output.

The tower is a popular destination amongst international tourists, avid shoppers and romance seekers. Donned with ballroom chandeliers and magnificent crystals, the banquet hall needed specialized lighting solutions to complement the elegance of the room. By

UK - Black Light used its theatrical expertise to help revamp a classic Newcastle cinema. The Edinburgh-based company installed AV, sound and lighting systems to create a new, flexible entertainment space for the Tyneside Cinema, the city's only full-time independent picture house.

"We drew on our expertise and experience in the worlds of theatre and conference venues to come up the right mix of equipment to suit the client's technical requirements, creative vision and budget," explains Phil Haldane who led the team that carried out the installation. "In particular we used Q-Sys to manage all the AV and lighting systems. We also installed Selecon LED theatrical lights onto Prolyte Truss to allow a wide range of lighting schemes to be easily set up and implemented. These were recalled via an eCUe replay unit over rs232 from the Q-Sys Core."

The solutions Bla

USA - UK loudspeaker manufacturer PMC confirmed at AES in Los Angeles the first sales of its new QB1-A reference monitors - to Capitol Studios, with one pair destined for Studio A, the other for Studio B.

Launched this week at AES, the QB1-A is PMC's new high-end monitor. Designed to provide a new reference standard for medium-to-large-scale recording facilities in terms of accuracy, dynamics, resolution and headroom, it offers over 4800W of power per channel and incorporates analogue and digital inputs, PMC's Advanced Transmission Line (ATL) bass-loading technology, DSP control, and the latest generation of PMC's Class-D amplification and driver designs.

Capitol's engineers and management were part of a network of international industry professionals who provided invaluable feedback on the design of the QB1-A as it evolved. Prototype versions of the speakers have been install

UK - Following a review of their playback systems, and a need to create higher capacity MADI streams, the National Theatre on London's South Bank has purchased six Optocore DD4MR-FX converters from dealers, HD Pro Audio.

These have been deployed as MADI interfaces for the venue's DiGiCo SD7T and SD10T consoles, following the introduction of the full DiGiCo integration of Optocore devices.

Commissioned by project engineer Tim Middleton, and senior sound technician Alex Caplen, the Optocore devices are distributed in pairs between the three theatres that make up the complex - the newly-named Dorfman (formerly Cottesloe), Lyttelton and Olivier Theatres. These are linked to the DiGiCo front of house consoles (SD7Ts in the Olivier and Lyttelton, SD10T in the Dorfman) with a roaming SD10T, which can be used as a rehearsal console or designer's remote.

After providing a redundant o

USA - Just a short drive from the Mexican border and southeast of the city of McAllen, Valley International Christian Centre (VICC) recently opened a new, almost 70,000sq.ft sanctuary. This state-of-the-art church is the largest house of worship in the Rio Grande Valley and, in 2013, was recognized as one of the fastest growing churches in America by Outreach Magazine.

Music plays a vital role in VICC's worship services and, to ensure a high level of speech intelligibility and excellent music reproduction characteristics, church officials recently gave the green light to the deployment of a new sound reinforcement system drawn from the catalogue of Valencia, Spain-based D.A.S. Audio.

Simon Estrada Jr. serves as VICC's campus sound engineer and the church's Praise and Worship leader. He also operates a sound services company under the name Supernatural Designz of Brownsville, T

Japan - Following 12 successful years with its Meyer Sound MSL-4 loudspeakers, the Takarazuka Grand Theatre in Japan returned to Meyer Sound when it came time to upgrade. With an emphasis on exceptional audio quality and system reliability, the 2,550-seat venue chose a design based on M'elodie and MICA line array loudspeakers.

"In my opinion, the best equipment should be robust and reliable," says Masaru Kirie of Takarazuka Stage Co., Ltd. "The new system's performance lives up to the prestigious Meyer Sound brand, and the sound quality is excellent in all respects."

The theatre's main system is anchored by left and right lower proscenium arrays of 13-each M'elodie loudspeakers and three over-proscenium L-C-R clusters consisting of seven MICA and three M'elodie loudspeakers each. Ten 700-HP subwoofers provide low-end reinforcement, with six placed overhead

UK - Reading University is a globally renowned institution. Ranked amongst the top 1% of universities in the world, its reputation for teaching, research and enterprise is formidable. Reading is also home to some of the country's most beautiful campuses and a number of heritage buildings. It was in respect of one such heritage site that the university contacted POLARaudio, seeking a solution to an audio headache on a grand scale.

The Great Hall, situated on the original London Road campus, is a Grade 2 listed building which hosts a wide variety of events, not least of which are graduation ceremonies for thousands of students. In response to a growing number of adverse comments in relation to the poor audio quality at such events, the university's Vice-Chancellor took the decision to improve things.

Having previously enjoyed a successful working relationship with POLARaudio, th

The Netherlands - Designed to attract over 500,000 visitors each year, Utrecht's new Tivoli Vredenburg venue covers 31,000m2 and features five auditoriums, 22 dressing rooms, 11 circulation spaces and 24 bars/restaurants. Designing a communications system for such a complex venue was a daunting task, but ASL Intercom had the right solution.

The city's Tivoli and Vredenburg venues have been major centres of music for over 30 years. Bringing them together under one roof with the city's Jazz Centre was achieved by incorporating the existing Vredenburg symphony hall into a brand new, €150m, venue and adding four major new performance spaces around it.

To make each venue within the new Tivoli Vredenburg as versatile as possible, the 22 dressing rooms are not allocated to particular auditoriums/stages. This made the job even more difficult for Utrecht-based Switch Concepts, the com

UK - PLASA London 2014 welcomed visitors and exhibitors to ExCeL, London for the second consecutive year on 5-8 October and impressed with a ground-breaking show floor, an inspiring education programme and a host of important announcements. While exhibitors revealed their latest product innovations, the organisers uncovered plans for the future of the show.

Speaking at the PLASA Awards for Innovation and Sustainability 2014, held on the penultimate day of the show, PLASA's CEO Matthew Griffiths revealed some of the changes for 2015, which will redevelop the scope and delivery of the event. Under the leadership of Christopher Toulmin, PLASA's Director of the Events Division, the show is being remodelled to become a PLASA Member-focused event: developments will include moving from four days to three days, introducing a new floor plan concept, expanding the education offering and i

The Netherlands - Tivoli Vredenburg is a new and architecturally impressive venue in the heart of the beautiful Dutch city of Utrecht. Equally impressive is its technical infrastructure, which features an array of DiGiCo mixing consoles as part of its extensive audio system.

A merger of former venues Tivoli and Vredenburg, both successful in their own rights for the past 30 years, Tivoli Vredenburg has been constructed around the existing Vredenburg theatre and concert hall, now known as the Grote Zaal or Great Hall, which remains in its original form.

The new building houses four additional rooms, Ronda, Pandora, Hertz and Cloud Nine, each of which plays host to different types of musical styles, with each designed by a different architect. Combining such disparate designs could have made the overall venue feel disconnected, but a cleverly thought out, cathedral-like foyer br

UK - Islington's famous Sadlers Wells Theatre is often called London's dance theatre. Initially dating from 1683, today Sadler's Wells not only promotes but also commissions and produces outstanding dance. However, in order fully enjoy a performance of dance, it is important that the audience enjoys the music in equal measure. To that end, installation specialists Scanaudio recently upgraded the theatre's induction loop system for the hard of hearing.

Since the introduction of legislation requiring public spaces to provide for all kinds of disabilities, induction loop systems have been installed in most public buildings and, over time, have become more and more sophisticated.

The Sadlers Wells system features two Ampetronic multiloop drivers, one MLD7 and one MLD9 which, are connected to low loss loop arrays installed along the seating rows of the rear stalls and first circle.

France - At the French National Museum of Natural History in Paris, September saw the 20th anniversary re-opening of the updated Great Gallery of Evolution space featuring an install of site-specific custom-designed Amadeus speakers.

The museum install features an assortment of Amadeus speaker and sub-woofer models to offer the public a Hi-Fi audio experience throughout the vast museum. Merging Technologies, Solid State Logic and Flux also added key ingredients to the new museum install to control the Amadeus speakers.

Amadeus' director of R&D, Michel Deluc, and designer Bernard BYK, created completely new speaker and subwoofer configurations for the massive, over 180-speaker, sound system install at the National Museum of Natural History.

The new speaker design has extended the Amadeus PMX Series with a super-compact 4-inch coaxial driver model, the PMX 4. Bernard BYK and M

UK - Brighton-based pro audio, video and lighting integrator, Penguin Media Solutions, has recently completed an extensive installation into the University of Kent's new student bar, bistro and live venue, Cargo.

Head of Hospitality for the University, Keith Williams, wanted a system that offered quality, reliability and, above all, versatility. A complex noise management study had been undertaken, so strict guidelines also had to be adhered to from the initial design, through to final delivery.

"We wanted to offer Cargo a simple, versatile but eminently capable system," says Penguin's Director of Operations, Dylan Thompson. "By using quality components throughout, we were confident that we could provide a solution that provided just that."

The multi-purpose nature of the venue required inputs in various locations for DJ, live and daytime background music

UK - Avolites' fully featured, dual wide screen Sapphire Touch console is controlling ceiling panels of LEDs in theatre company Paines Plough's portable Roundabout Theatre. Premiering at this summer's Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the theatre has since popped up in towns across the UK.

Lighting programmer Peter Small specified the Sapphire Touch to programme, control, and pixel map the 627 LEDs in the complex panels built into the touring venue's roof.

"The Sapphire Touch is excellent for programming Roundabout because of its speed - a lot of the console's features and hardware come together to allow this but a few that stand out are the large, bright, responsive touch screens, the 45 motorised faders (all electronically labelled) as well as the very well laid out programming section," says Small. "It also has advantages for us such as being able to handle the 13 u

Everyman A Winner - Liverpool's rebuilt Everyman Theatre has won the Riba Stirling Prize for best new building of the year. The venue beat five other buildings to win the honour - the Royal Institute of British Architects' highest accolade. Riba president Stephen Hodder called the Everyman an "exceptional new building". He added, "It is a ground-breaking example of how to build a daring bold and highly sustainable large public building in a historic city centre.

The theatre - famed for launching the careers of actors including Bill Nighy, Julie Walters and Pete Postlethwaite - first opened in 1964 in the shell of a 19th Century chapel on one of Liverpool's main streets. However, over the years it fell into a state of disrepair and architects Haworth Tompkins were tasked with designing a new theatre as part of a nine-year £27m rebuilding project, retaining i

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