Located in
Wayne, NJ, the Passaic County Technical Institute (PCTI) is a national
award-winning high school with a 200 course curriculum which includes their
School of Performing Arts. With a focus on the student’s artistic development
in preparation for life after graduation, the PCTI theatre recently underwent a
systems renovation highlighted by the desire to immerse the audience into each
performance. To complete the project, Thea & Schoen was brought on as the
systems integrator and they designed an energy-efficient Philips Strand
Lighting retrofit installation that included PLFRESNEL1 and PLPROFILE4 LED
luminaires along with a NEO lighting control console, Vision.net Touchscreens,
an A21 Dimming System, and CD80SV Retrofit Dimmer Modules.
“We were
originally brought into the project by Generations Electric who works on energy
co-ops with a lot of schools in the area,” began Wes Hacking, Systems Designer
with Thea & Schoen. “The initial focus of the installation was an LED
upgrade to the house lighting because the school wanted to be able to bring the
performances out into the house. After our first meetings about how we could
accomplish this, they started to get excited about a more complete renovation
and the whole project really opened up from there.”
First
turning their attention to the house lights, Hacking needed to replace the
current incandescent pendant lights that hung over the aisles. Looking at how
the new lighting instruments could be hung, he came up with a unique solution
that included 28 PLFRESNEL1 LED luminaires.
“When we
started looking at more energy-efficient house light options, I brought in the
PL Series LED luminaires for a demo,” explained Hacking. “I showed them the PLFRESNEL1 as a possible
option and when they saw how they could bring color-changing into the house,
they loved the idea and were blown away. We were then able to flush-mount the
LED luminaires into the ceiling and replace their existing 300W house lights in
a 1-to-1 ratio with the PLFRESNEL1 LED luminaires.”
The PLFRESNEL1
LED luminaire is renowned for its color rendering across the color spectrum,
and also for its warm and cool whites. Delivering an adjustable beam with a
soft edge that is easily blended with adjacent beams to provide an even wash
across a stage, the PLFRESNEL1 creates no irritating color shadows, ensuring
the fixtures are ideal for theatre, small studio, and display lighting
applications.
“After the
discussions about house lights, we began discussing what their other needs were
and what else they might like do,” continued Hacking. “When they mentioned an
easy and convenient way to call-up preprogrammed looks in the theatre for
assemblies and other events, I showed them the Vision.net touchscreen and they
loved the functionality it provides. So by installing one touchscreen backstage
and another in a front of house location, they can now pull-up a variety of
lighting looks with the simple touch of a button.”
The
Vision.net control system is a fully integrated lighting management system
designed to meet the most demanding lighting environments. Scalable from a
single room to large multi-building campuses, its decentralized control
approach delivers unparalleled flexibility and maximum reliability. Vision.net
control stations provide a wide range of touchscreen, button and slider
stations and any button can be programmed with a multitude of functions.
“Next, we
started talking about the banners inside the auditorium that they currently had
lit with only white light,” added Hacking. “For this, I showed them the
PLPROFILE4 LED luminaire which they also loved so we added two of them to the
project as well.”
The
PLPROFILE4 LED luminaire is an innovative combination of LED source technology
and precision optical design, that expands the family of PL Series lighting
fixtures and uses four high-power, RGBW LED chips to deliver endless color
options along with precise beam control and pattern projections to give
lighting designers everything they desire in a powerful and compact spot
luminaire.
“With the
new Vision.net touchscreens and the PL Series LED fixtures we now needed to
address the dimming capabilities,” admitted Hacking. “There was an existing
Strand CD80 dimming system in the theatre, so we switched out the CD80 dimmers
for CD80SV retrofit modules, upgraded the control card to be compatible with
Vision.net, and then added an A21 Dimming System with nine 2000W IGBT Dimmer
Modules.”
A21 Dimming
Systems are designed to be tailored to the varying needs of architectural or
entertainment applications, and their modular design allows systems to be
easily configured to meet the needs of a wide range of projects. CD80SV retrofit
dimmer modules have been designed specifically to upgrade existing CD80 dimmer
racks using IGBT dimming and switching technology to expand LED dimming
capabilities.
“After
addressing the dimming upgrade, we then started looking at their existing
lighting control console,” said Hacking. “They currently had a Light Palette,
but were open to new options as well. When I showed them a demo of the new NEO
lighting control console they got very excited about its touchscreen
capabilities, the magic sheets and its pixel mapping features. With a very
easy-to-use interface and its control language made for the programmer, they
wanted a NEO so we added it as the final piece to the complete Philips Strand
Lighting package.”
The NEO
lighting control console marks a new chapter in the evolution of control from
Philips Strand Lighting giving operators the ability to grab, move, change
color and motivate the lighting design simply and effectively through the
inclusion of many timesaving features. Icons and Shutter controls are
represented graphically on the display and Floating Windows allow the operator
to configure their views their way making it easy to find information. Effects
are also revolutionized with “Time Line” features allowing drag and drop to
create that perfectly timed sequence, making NEO one of the most robust
consoles available today.
“Besides
the PCTI productions, the theatre also operates as a rental house for other
organizations in the area,” concluded Hacking.
“With this system retrofit, which also included Philips Color Kinetics
iColor MR fixtures in the curved wall coves throughout the house, the
production space has now become an all-encompassing and immersive live
entertainment environment, which is exactly what they wanted. Bringing the
emotion from the stage to the house, productions can blanket the audience in
virtually any color and the system from Philips Strand Lighting is working
wonderfully.”
