Perth Concert Hall underwent a refurbishment of the façade lighting in January 2018 to upgrade the old discharge luminaires with modern LED luminaires to reduce maintenance and running costs for the venue.
As the two Studio Due CityColor 2500 and nine Martin Exterior 200 discharge luminaries had reached end of serviceable life, Engineering Technology Consultants specified for new LED luminaires to be installed in the same locations as the decommissioned luminaires as to maintain the heritage look of the façade and provide minimal civil works and disturbances to the building.
Insight Electrical were awarded the tender for the refurbishment and engaged Light Application to supply and commission the new luminaires.
Martin Exterior 410 RGBW Wash lights, with an almost identical footprint to the Martin Exterior 200 were specified as the ideal replacement for the column up lights.
“The Exterior 410 RGBW wash lights produce amazing colours for their size,” remarked Matt Bancroft from Light Application. “The blue chip wavelength leans more towards the ultraviolet end of the spectrum and this allows for amazing reproduction of colours especially magenta and purples. Some luminaries struggle to reach this when their blue chip is usually more aligned towards cyan. The addition of a white LED chip allows for subtle desaturation and pastel colours.
“In architectural lighting, it is essential to choose products which accurately reproduce as much of the visible light spectrum as possible, as these days a lot of manufactures claim their LED luminaires can produce ’16 million colours’ but many products disappointingly do not cut the mustard when it comes to actually producing the colours that many theatrical staff are so accustomed to achieving on stage.”
As the consultants wanted to provide more of a dynamic statement on the façade, instead of replacing “like for like” with coloured wash lighting, Four Martin Exterior 1000 Gobo Projectors were specified and installed in the existing pole location of the CityColor 2500’s.
Two projectors were installed per pole to provide total coverage of the façade with seven selectable projection gobos or when no gobo is chosen and combined with the 410 wash lights, a two-toned colour wash effect can be created on the building.
As the installation location was restricted to the existing pole location, the zoomable lens of 10° to 43° was invaluable to ensure gobos could be sized accurately for the desired effect.
CMY colour mixing provides the ability for the staff to fine-tune colours for each event, while the animation wheel and two prism effects provide additional combinations of effects with the gobos to provide engaging animations to further enhance the brutalist architecture of the Perth Concert Hall.
“With a heritage building as impressive as the Perth Concert Hall, it was vital to find the appropriate lights for the exterior façade,” commented Melissa Savio, Lighting Technician at Perth Concert Hall. “With the Martin Exterior 410’s and the Martin Exterior Projection 1000’s we can create some breathtaking looks for the multitude of occasions we service. Not only can we better accommodate our clients’ needs for concerts and events, but we can engage in community days, such as going blue for the beyondblue organisation or pink to support breast cancer awareness. These light fixtures in particular give us the punch we need for the four-story façade. Plus, we can do this with a sincere reduction in energy output. It’s really up to us to be creative, as the gobo projectors offer nearly limitless options.”
