The Grand Opera House, Belfast – Case Study
In the Spotlight – Lightsource at the Opera House.
The long-awaited renovation of Belfast’s Grand Opera House is now complete! The £12.2 million was lead by a team of contractors to produce these fabulous results. We have created this case study to provide you with the key details of this project.
Who Lightsource Worked With
Interior Design – Sundara Design
Lead Architects – Consarc
M&E Consultants – Semple & McKillop
Installing Electrical Engineers – William Coates
Main Contractor – Tracey Brothers
The Planning Stages
Right from the planning stages, Lightsource were engaged with the interior design team and architects. The team from Sundara produced beautiful renders of the space that gave fantastic insight into their ideas. The clear vision from the design team made it simple for Lightsource to find and supply the perfect lighting solutions for each space.
There were three key prerequisites when it came to lighting this historic building.
- The architectural lighting had to illuminate all floorspace to legal levels while producing as little glare as possible.
- The decorative lighting had to be high quality LED and stand out, while matching the proposed interior design themes and materials.
- ALL lighting had to be controlled from central points. Wireless, Bluetooth Casambi modules were installed for all light fittings.
Key Aspects of the Lighting Scheme
Recessed, plaster in linear downlights The lines of downlights you can see in the main atrium are specified to produce a Bluetooth controllable, high level of light. These are the Neko Fusion which not only look fantastic but perform very efficiently with very low glare optics.
Plaster in Downlights The trimless, plaster in downlights in the general circulation areas are also very efficient, powerful and low glare. The recessed nature of all the downlights in the Grand Opera House were specified to blend in to allow focus on the stunning architectural and design features. We specified Bluetooth enabled drivers for all of the downlights to reduce failure points and installation time.
Feature Pendant Rings There is no denying that the focal point of the ground floor is the new spiral staircase that allows access to the mezzanine and first floors. The 5 tier brass pendant hangs gracefully in the centre of the staircase. This light fitting has been custom made by Lightsource for the Grand Opera House.
Brass Chandeliers The large black and brass LED Chandeliers from Santa & Cole create a statement piece in the open bar area on the first floor. All lights are controllable with the Bluetooth dimming system.
Box Office Lighting A trio of statement pendants were required to hang above the beautifully designed box office. These Edizioni pendants were selected because of their delicate, modern and quality finish. As brass is the accent material throughout the building, the simple and clean design of these pendants were the perfect selection for the requirements.
Exterior Lighting The exterior lighting for the Grand Opera House proposed by Lightsource with the addition of renders from Dialux lighting design software to show the contracted team what they can expect from the solution. All exterior lighting was then commissioned by the technical team to ensure the facade of the building was uniformly illuminated. A combination of professional lighting products from Linea Light were used to project light to exactly where it is needed.
Circle Bar Lighting As you can see from the image below, brass was very much the accent material in the circle bar area. The etched glass pendants that hang above the bar are the Rowan by crystal glass specialists Ebb & Flow. The surface-mounted downlights were added to the lighting scheme to add texture to the large open space while providing further texture to the first floor as you look through the windows from the outside. The Ray by Wever & Ducre provide a low glare, quality LED source of light that is controlled by Bluetooth dimmable drivers. The brass-trimmed downlights are also from Wever & Ducre.
All Lighting had to be integrated into the Bluetooth mesh system to allow for scene setting for a variety of applications. This involved a thorough plan for the control gear supplied throughout the building and required some fittings to be custom-made to incorporate the latest Casambi technology.
Lightsource’s Role in the Project
The team at Lightsource put forward a building wide solution in keeping with the initial specification. The design team at Sundara did a fantastic job of providing a clear vision of what the lighting should look like. It was then up to Lightsource to source the products from original manufacturers and create bespoke luminaires where ‘off-the-shelf’ products were not suitable. Efficient performance and aesthetics influenced all of the decisions made across the lighting scheme.
When the project reached the fit-out stage, the team at Lightsource were on hand to advise the installing electrical contractors on how to fit the various control components to each luminaire, as well as advising on best practices of installing lights such as the plaster in, recessed downlights.
The final stage of the project for Lightsource was the commissioning of the control systems. Each light was fitted with Casambi driver which linked together in a Bluetooth mesh. This means that the lighting in all public circulation areas has the capability to create different lighting environments at various stages of the event.
Credit Where Credit is Due
While Lightsource supplied all of the architectural and decorative fittings in the public circulation areas, the lighting in the auditorium itself was mainly refurbished and repurposed by the stage lighting company. This was to allow all of the auditorium lights to be controlled by a central stage system.
We would also like to credit the design and architectural teams at Sundara and Consarc for their creative foresight and ingenuity, which was the backbone for the tremendous success of this grand project. Consulting engineers, Sempel McKillop, are owed credit for ensuring the decisions made by all teams would adhere to all necessary regulations and have a logical, manageable installation process.
View all of the Photography for The Grand Opera House Project Here!
We would like to thank everyone involved for giving us the opportunity to be involved on such a high profile and iconic Belfast project. We are sure that the refurbishment of this landmark will amaze returning clientele, while attracting new performances and theatre-goers from far and wide.
