Regarded as one of Sydney’s most architecturally significant buildings and a prime example of the ‘Brutalistic’ style, SMC Conference & Function Centre has recently undergone a multi-million dollar renovation.
All of the new AV and technology infrastructure is now integrated throughout the multi-level building that houses the thirteen venue spaces. The upgraded capabilities include integrated large scale projection facilities, world class audio and public address systems, intelligent architectural and theatrical lighting systems and all the outboard equipment that ties these elements together.
For theatrical lighting Paul Davison, General Manager, turned to Show Technology to provide an energy efficient and environmentally sustainable solution for the two main performance spaces – the Grand Lodge and the Banquet Hall.
The lighting in both rooms is a semi-permanent install with a little flexibility to supplement equipment when required. The Grand Lodge now houses eight ShowPRO Pluto 350 LED moving head spot and two Claypaky Axcor 300 Wash. The Pluto 350s are custom painted white to blend into the room’s décor and are mounted on customised made, curved stainless steel bars that echo the curve of the wall.
“We looked at a few options at Show Technology but the Plutos delivered performance and value for money,” said Paul. “The Pluto 350s are our workhorses to do specials and room décor and they haven’t disappointed. They’re reliable, obedient and easy to operate. They also have a good range of standard effects and we haven’t had to add any custom gobos. Plus they are reasonably quiet which is important.”
Paul remarked that the Claypaky Axcor 300 Wash has an impressive beam angle range that makes it perfectly suited to the Grand Lodge. Its’ compact size was also a major benefit as a large fixture would not have been suitable, however it still needed to be very punchy as it has to deal with a 20 metre throw to the stage.
The Banquet Hall also has eight Pluto 350 as well as six ShowPRO LED Fresnel RGBAL DMX Zoom and four ShowPRO LED EProfile HP. Four of the Pluto 350 along with the Fresnels and Profiles are located at the rear of the room with two more Pluto 350 either side of the room on side truss.
Custom droppers were made coming out of the slab to suspend a 14.5m x 450mm flat truss which then contains the LED rig. Paul didn’t want to have bulky Tri truss or concert truss but still needed a solution that would be rigid enough to not move around with vibration and be able to hold the lights required.
“The ShowPRO LED Fresnel RGBAL DMX Zoom are great and give us the ultimate colour mixing flexibility,” remarked Paul. “The room is used for conferencing and banquet events so the Fresnels give us the ability to do our stage washes whilst the ShowPRO LED EProfile HPs give us the ability to light lecterns and banners. The Pluto 350s then do room décor, texture and special effects. It gives us a fair amount of flexibility without having to re-rig every time we do an event. We can get some brilliant effects when bouncing light onto the room’s stainless steel hexagonal ceiling trusses.”
Paul also added sixteen extremely bright, slim-profile RGB tri-colour LED PARs and twelve Apollo battery-powered, outdoor-rated RGBW LED high-output uplights to the venue. Together they can be used for uplighting curtains and walls in both rooms as well as the main foyer’s features.
Paul mentioned that the support from Show Technology has been excellent and he can always get Gareth on the phone when he has a question!
