The Project
Founded in 1874, the Royal Irish Academy of Music (RIAM) is Ireland’s oldest musical teaching institution. Located in the heart of Dublin, it is ranked in the top 50 institutions in the world for the performing arts and trains gifted musicians for careers in music performance, composition and pedagogy. To mark the institutions 175th anniversary, it recently opened a brand-new RIAM Campus which doubled the number of teaching and practice rooms, provided new and enhanced facilities, and created a space for collaboration to flourish. 3LR Lighting was approached to specify a new house-lighting system for the campus. This included a particular focus on the brand-new, 300 seater Whyte Recital Hall, which drew on a new ETC ArcSystem LED House Lighting and for which, as the manufacturer’s representatives, 3LR conduced the detailed consultation.
The Brief
The Whyte Recital Hall is the first in Ireland devoted to chamber music and its state-of-the-art acoustics are designed to match the highest international standards. Just as important as audio re-enforcement though is the lighting within this unique space. Working closely with TODD Architects and PSI Production, 3LR had to ensure that the lighting in the Hall allowed the aesthetics to become part of the audience’s experience. The team had to consider its rich tones of walnut wall linings, the complementary tones of charcoal grey curtains and burnt orange seating upholstery; all of which would rely on the quality of house lighting to deliver a visual impact for an audience, and set the tone for any upcoming performance. As such, the main points of focus for 3LR were the colour temperature, the CRI (how the light interacted with flesh tones) and the fade to warm.
The Delivery
The house lighting design was initially the work of High Res Lighting, who specified ETC’s ArcSystem. It was 3LR’s task to both verify the design and ensure the quality of the house lighting, not just in terms of appearance, but in user control, regulations, and future maintenance.
To confirm the proposal, 3LR worked closely with experienced architectural lighting designer and long-time associate Karoliina Helin, of Hehkuva Design, in Finland, to build a detailed DIALux plan of the specification. Given the DIALux model offers approximately 95% accurate, it can show the client and integrator what is actually going to be delivered – its appearance, the target Lux level, the spread of light in the building, the brightness in each seat and location, and much more.
The solution for RIAM included over 80 ArcSystem Pro fixtures: 25 One-Cells, fitted into the acoustic baffles above the auditorium and stage; another 37 One-Cells covering the lobby areas, balcony levels and control room soffits; 12 Two-Cell units covering the side balconies; and 10 Four-Cell fixtures giving an over-stage wash for orchestras. Pro fixtures provide a CRI >90, with smooth dimming and fine control down to a very low level, as well as a variety of colour temperatures and beam-spread options. Thanks to their convection cooling, these also have a completely noiseless operation – essential for a prestigious classical music environment such as this. The fixtures are driven by ETC’s F-Drive cards, with ETC’s Mosaic architectural control system providing the user interface. Similarly, ETC’s 10 year LED warranty offers the client complete peace-of-mind, knowing they can rely on the benefits of LED binning and colour consistency for the next decade.
