Transforming a pre-Victorian building Winter Gardens Ballroom to facilitate a large LED Display and Sound System.

THE PROBLEM:

With the original 1924 design – a collaboration between landscape architect Thomas Hayton Mawson and town surveyor Harry Brown –rooted in the social usage of the day, both audio and video presented a variety of challenges to the installation teams. The work contracted to Design AV Europe comprised four physical areas all with unique constraints due to architecture and listed building regulations.

THE SOLUTION:

The ballroom’s size makes the use of projection technology tricky, and so a 6m x 2.5m, 2.5mm LED display has been installed instead – driv-en by a tvONE CORIOmaster processor. (There is also a 4mm LED dis-play, 4m x 2.25m in portrait format, used for signage in the college reception area and driven by a BrightSign player.) Design AV Europe approached NEXO to supply the ballroom audio system. This was designed to work in any one of five audio scenarios: speech; dinners and table-seated events; live band, concert-type events; ‘DJ ball-room’ (sound only on dancefloor); and ‘DJ all’ (sound on dancefloor and promenade).

THE RESULT:

From derelict to a busy venue which is succeeding: it’s in a nice location and it is the only venue of its kind in Weston. Hopefully it will be a versatile, user-friendly space for all sorts of events for years to come.

“When is a Victorian building not a Victorian building? When it’s a neo-Georgian pavilion with a makeover comprising sophisti-cated AV with a variety of modern-day acoustic treatments.”

Rob Lane - Reporter for Installation