Recently, Robe's DL Series LED fixtures have been installed in its two auditoriums as part of a lighting refit and upgrade.
As well as a leading creative live art and performance forum presenting around 600 arts events a year, Kings Place is a world class, award-winning conference and events venue, hosting leading brands across 10 event rooms and spaces. In the past 12 months, Kings Place has managed around 350 corporate events from small meetings to multi-day conferences for over 1000 delegates.
The latest lighting installation continues Kings Place's constant reinvestment in its technical infrastructure, allowing the building to provide increased functionality to corporate clients and artists alike.
Priya Taylor, business development director for Kings Place Events says, "We're delighted to continue investing in technology so we can offer our events clients the very best."
The lights were chosen by head of lighting Alexander Allen, primarily for their silent running, their brightness compared to small size and light weight ... and the power saving potential of the LED light-sources.
When Alex was appointed as head of lighting in mid-2014, he instigated the specification of the new Robe DLS Profile and DLF Wash fixtures, with a total of 12 x DLS Profiles and 16 x DLF Wash fixtures delivered by Robe UK via Blackburn based HSL.
Kings Place runs completely independently of any public funding. Its business model is designed to generate financial support for the arts programme mainly through commercial income, conferences, events and ticket sales, rather than traditional arts funding routes, so keen attention is paid to what's new, cool and interesting, together with providing facilities giving it a commercial edge.
Currently Hall 1 has seven DLS Profiles and six DLF Washes, with eight DLF Washes and three DLS Profiles in Hall 2, run in both cases by ETC Cobalt / Congo consoles.
Alex and his technicians - who light 90% of the shows at Kings Place - are delighted, as are various visiting crew. Regular evening concerts from solo performances to septets and sometimes a choir of 30 are now all performed under LED light.
Many classical musicians are extremely sensitive to stage lighting conditions and the optimised environment in which they need to work. "The tungsten emulation in the fixtures is so good ... that most people could never tell it is a LED source," confirms Alex who concludes, "There is a good chance that Kings Place is the first venue in London to switch out all automated units to a LED based source with focusable optics. The tuneable whites in the fixtures are excellent."
(Jim Evans)
