Two of the ICC’s largest halls were decked out as auditoriums with stages and screens for large-scale AV presentations. The Vertigo team, led by crew chief Paul Darby, rigged three large soft front-projection screens in hall one, the centre one measuring 26m x 9.5m and spanning the entire width of the stage. This was flanked by two 16m x 9m side screens, angled to be parallel to the auditorium walls, and tapered at the front to match in with the raked seating. Vertigo also rigged two large overhead sound baffles, measuring 32m x 2.5m and 27m x 3m. Vertigo flew a large box truss with dimensions of 20m x 5.5m respectively in hall two, which was sub-hung with three screens and scenic panels. This truss was utilized for all the lighting and audio rigging points in hall two, and Vertigo’s brief also included helping to get the equipment in place.
In the lobby, Vertigo hung another truss grid (16.5m by 11.5m), complete with a ceiling and Scanachrome printed side ‘walls’, forming a cube with no base. For this, Vertigo fabricated 28 special spreader beams back at their warehouse in Deptford, so that the truss could be suspended form the hall’s existing eye bolts. Nothing else could be used in this area to achieve the maximum height required for the trussing. Vertigo also suspended four 10.5m truss runs for lighting, and four light boxes.
The short build schedule was from Tuesday to Saturday, which kept the eight Vertigo crew constantly busy. This was preceded by an equally short prep time back in London, before everything was transported to Germany. The ICC’s voluminous spaces also kept everyone fit, with the crew walking several miles each day just getting from end to end of the rooms! Vertigo used 26 Lodestar motors and approximately 30 in-house steel wire rope winches, working in conjunction with the house crew and an additional team of local riggers. They ensured that the weight loading on the points was kept low to comply with the very stringent German regulations, which have the largest safety ratios anywhere in the world. All these were accounted for in the initial calculations. "The scale was huge, but it was relatively straightforward," said Vertigo’s project manager Paddy Burnside.
(Lee Baldock)
