Summit won a competitive tender for the work which is being project managed for them by Jay Call. Coincidentally, Fuerzabruta production manager Jonathan Bartlett, knew Call from Summit's work at the Royal Albert Hall and Call is also acquainted with The Roundhouse's technical director, John McKinnon.
Call and the Summit team worked closely with Fuerzabruta technical director Ale Garcia throughout. The show contains a myriad of aerial stunts, lots of water, and plenty of audience interaction.
The mother grid - measuring 22 metres at its longest point - is suspended on nineteen static points and tensioned off to the external ring of roof beams running around the building.It's constructed from four spines of 52 cm JTE trussing and nine spreaders made from 30 cm trussing which are used for the positioning of the set pieces, automation and lighting equipment utilised for the show. Summit also suspended PA on separate points throughout the space including the re-suspension of the Roundhouse's own PA when it became clear that the original height of suspension would impede positioning of the mother grid.
The only Roundhouse rigging points are ring beams attached to the roof, most of which only offer a 1 tonne SWL at 2.5 metre centres, with a maximum of 20 tonnes loading in the roof. Therefore the calculations of what was going where and when on the grid had to be very accurate. Summit worked alongside the Roundhouse's own engineers on this, cross referencing figures and ensuring all parties were happy.
Lifting the grid into position was a major challenge. Most of it was constructed on the floor, and then lifted into position on hoists, in the process being towed around the building's own iron structural supporting beams. It was then deaded off at approximately nine metres by being attached to steel wire ropes containing rigging screws to achieve an accurate height. The remainder of the trussing was added and the grid finished at height - it was the only way to get the precise fit that was needed.
Getting the correct height was also absolutely crucial for the safe operation of the aerial stunts, some of which involve large props, set pieces and equipment being moved about on beam trolleys throughout the performance.
Apart from the challenge of lifting the mother-grid into place, another brain-teaser was making the loading spread and work throughout the entire roof. The largest - and the heaviest - set piece is a Perspex water tank weighing 2.5 tonnes when fully loaded with water and people. This traverses the whole length of one of the trusses, transferring the load across several points as it does.
Fuerzabruta was originally created and devised as a permanently installed show in one theatre (some of the people involved have also worked with the acclaimed De La Guarda company), so the whole design was based on a particular building - which was much larger then the Roundhouse - all of which had to be taken into consideration and worked around.
The Roundhouse has the great advantage of a CABLEnet tensioned wire grid in the roof - installed by Slingco, and specified by architects John McAslan's following the concept design by theatre consultants Charcoalblue's Andy Hayles which made life much easier for the Summit team during the rigging operations. "It was a pleasure to work on it and in the roof space as a whole, access to the ring beams has been well thought out minimising the time spent working and the risks involved " comments Call.
Summit undertook many safety tests on their grid as the show developed in rehearsals to ensure that the weight loading was well within boundaries for all the areas utilised in the show - a process that will be ongo
