Stage Electrics designed and installed the new facilities' sound and lighting systems, with Hills Electrical plc, main contractor Totty Construction, architects Cruickshank & Seward and acoustic consultants Arup.
The Music Department boasts a 350-seat concert hall (pictured right), while the Drama Department is equipped with a studio theatre. The concert hall has been designed primarily for orchestral performances, with stage space for up to 90-piece orchestras. Four lighting trusses are fitted with Strand Cantata and SL lanterns, while the Concert Hall control room houses the Strand 300 Series lighting desk controlling the three Strand LD90 dimmer panels.
The audio system is specified primarily for voice announcements and comprises RCF Vision PA151 loudspeakers and DCA1050 amplifiers, XTA DP224 digital loudspeaker controllers, a Mackie 1642VLZ mixer and a Tec-pro comms system. The building-wide paging system is from RCF, with MR3S and Next Two speakers, a PD1066 six-zone switcher and BM3067 paging mics.
Specified to allow use by non-technical staff, house lighting is under the command of a Strand Outlook architectural control system with pushbutton selection of eight preset states, controlling LD90 dimmers: a 96-channel Strand 300 Series lighting desk is also supplied for more flexible options.
Stage Electrics project manager Tim Cullen says: "The drama studio is a very good space and the control room, although easy to use, is highly versatile." Retractable bleacher seats for up to 150 people, installed by Arena Seating, makes this a highly flexible space. "It's a typical studio space with a lighting grid that covers the whole of the area." High and low-level sound and lighting facility panels ensure equipment locations can be equally flexible.The control room features a 250-channel Strand 300 Series lighting desk controlling four LD90 dimmers located in a separate dimmer room. While the luminaire count is headed by Thomas A3003 Par 64s and Par 30 floods. A late addition to the lineup was a selection of 36 Selecon Lanterns.
The studio is based around a Soundcraft K1 mixer, Mackie PA281 full-range speaker cabinets and Ohm MR10 speakers, all controlled by two XTA DP224s - 13 wall-mounted Speakon outlets allowing sound design flexibility. Of the recording studio, Cullen says: "We went to Mackie/RCF, who came up with a package for us including the hard disk recorder, desk and flightcases. Many of the students will have used Mackie kit before, and their backup is excellent. All in all, it was a thoroughly enjoyable creative project to work on."
UK, University of Hertfordshire - Cambridge-based QAV has specified a Martin Audio WT2 Theatre System for the 450-seat De Havilland auditorium, which forms part of the new £129m De Havilland Campus at the University of Hertfordshire in Hatfield.
QAV created the infrastructure for the multi-functional venue, which can act as a lecture theatre and a conventional theatre and entertainment venue. The project was put together by QAV's design team, headed by managing director George Noble.
Martin's WT2 is a powerful, compact theatre system which can be used as a stand-alone enclosure in a distributed system or arrayed in multiples. QAV, which uses WT2s as its rental touring rig, specified two mounted either side of the proscenium arch, with a pair of floor-mounted WS2As handling the sub frequencies.
Front-fills are provided by a pair of Martin WTUBs. While these are generally used as under-balcony fills, here they are positioned under-stage to project over the orchestra pit as near-fills into the first few rows. Stage si
