More than 200 fixtures from the Anolis Ambiane range now provide the house lighting in the two largest venues at Adelaide Festival Centre, reducing power consumption by approximately 50% while delivering a smooth, even wash across both auditoriums.
The new LED installations illuminate the 2,000-capacity Festival Theatre and the 590-seat Dunstan Playhouse, both located within the multi-purpose Adelaide Festival Centre arts complex in Adelaide, Australia.
Replacing 50 years of incandescent lighting
Nathan Luscombe, Head of Technical and Production at Adelaide Festival Centre, explained that the original house lighting installation, dating back to 1973 and consisting primarily of incandescent PAR 56 lamps and other recessed downlights, was still in operation and needed replacing after more than 50 years of service.
The time had come to adopt a more efficient and sustainable LED solution, also in line with a government-driven initiative.
The requirements
Professional-grade, high-quality dimming was one of our main requirements for the new lighting. We tested numerous products that switched abruptly on or off during the final 5-10% of the dimming curve. With an expected system lifespan of around 10 years, it was essential to ensure that details like this were properly addressed in any new installation, Nathan explained.
Nathan also insisted that the venue's ambient and architectural lighting should be controllable via DMX or DMX over Ethernet, drawing on the experience gained at Her Majesty's Theatre, another Adelaide venue managed by AFC.
He also wanted to incorporate colour-changing fixtures, opening up new possibilities such as creating bespoke lighting environments for showcases, special occasions and immersive experiences. Combined with DMX/Ethernet control, this functionality also allows visiting productions to integrate the house lighting into their own systems if desired.
Another requirement was for the signature white lighting used as audiences enter the venues to have a colour temperature of 3200 K, slightly cooler than standard, to replicate the appearance of the previous lighting installation. The ability to precisely tune the white tones of the Ambiane fixtures was a decisive factor in choosing Anolis.
Design and fixtures
The new lighting schemes were designed by Eddie Galak of Jands, Anolis's Australian distributor, who developed the aesthetic concept, the final proposal and extensive lighting modelling.
According to Eddie, Nathan and his team were impressed by the range of beam angles and optical options available with Anolis products, as well as the quality and vibrancy of the light output.
The installation includes the following fixtures:
- 12 Anolis Ambiane XP56 Recessed units with 45° lenses.
- 56 Ambiane XP56 Recessed RGBW (3200 K) luminaires, including 36 with 45° lenses and 20 with 60° lenses.
- 93 Ambiane MP111 RGBW (3200 K) luminaires with custom RAL-coloured trims: 75 recessed units with 80° lenses and 18 recessed units with 60° lenses.
- 36 Ambiane MP111 Surface Mount RGBW (3200 K) luminaires with 60° lenses.
A combination of these luminaires is used across both venues.
Integration into aheritage-listed building
In Festival Theatre, the fixtures have been installed in the ceiling, beneath the technical bridges, recessed into the balconies, underneath the boxes and in uplighting and downlighting configurations that graze the walls. The scalloped side column covers were replaced as part of the general auditorium refurbishment. The new fixtures were mounted in upward- and downward-facing positions, with bespoke covers designed to meet heritage conservation requirements.
In Dunstan Playhouse, the new fixtures have been installed across five different levels and beneath the balcony, retrofitted into the existing lighting positions.
The versatility of the Ambiane range allowed the light to be precisely contained and focused, achieving uniform coverage across both auditoriums. As most units could be installed in the existing house lighting openings, the installation process in this heritage-listed building was considerably simplified.
Results
The house lighting can now operate at approximately 70% intensity to achieve the required levels of 150-160 lux in white light (200-220 lux for coloured light), providing plenty of available headroom. It also eliminates the need for staff to work at height to replace failed lamps. Eddie, who has specified Anolis solutions for several of Australia's leading auditoriums, also highlights that Ambiane power supplies are available locally through the distributor if required.
Lighting control for both venues is provided through ETC Paradigm. The fixtures operate on independent networks but can easily be connected to a production lighting network or console.
The installation was carried out by ITE, a company that had previously worked with Eddie at Llewellyn Hall in Canberra. Nathan described their work as "excellent: they were helpful, highly knowledgeable, fully understood how we operate and had previous experience working with Anolis".
According to the venue's management, both audiences and staff have responded very positively to the new lighting. The auditoriums now feel brighter, with crisper lighting, a more modern appearance and a more comfortable environment for audiences.
Image credits: © Ben Clark, courtesy of Adelaide Festival Centre.
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