The National Botanic Gardens, officially opened in 2000, was a hugely ambitious project and the first of its kind for nearly 200 years. The Gardens are set in the Middleton Estate - 586 acres of landscaped park set against the stunning Welsh landscape. It has varied topography, a variety of water features offering diverse aquatic habitats, a range of microclimates, rich wildlife, established woodland and, amazingly in the present day, is virtually free from pollution.
Response to the project has been highly positive - during the first year, the Garden attracted over 250,000 visitors. It boasts the largest glasshouse in Europe, designed by architects Norman Foster and Partners to mirror the contours of the surrounding hills. The Theatre Botanica, at the heart of the Gardens, offers two different visitor shows. Up to 52 visitors per show sit in a block of seats mounted on an 8m diameter turntable which rotates during the longer show to take visitors round three different settings. During the shorter show, the screen comes forward and locks into position for a 360° projection show, accompanied by subtitles.
The theatre can also be used as a conference facility - and this intended use was designed into the sound, lighting and video system configuration from the start, giving the theatre a useful extra string to its bow.
Tyco Integrated Systems Limited (TIS), a division of Tyco International (previously Philips Projects), was appointed as the specialist company to devise the theatre concept and to design, engineer and implement the theatre’s complete technology fit-out. In turn, TIS contracted specialist suppliers and sub-contractors to assist in delivering the scheme’s preferred systems. The theatre’s design and media content was provided by Cardiff-based Ocean Digital, whilst the turntable and sliding screens were supplied to Tyco by British Turntable.
Project engineer David Stevenson of Tyco expands: "The Garden’s trustees, at Philips Projects (PP) invitation, visited one of PP’s client’s schemes, an installation created and implemented by the Philips Projects division in Holland for the Euro 2000 football tournament. The trustees liked what they saw and wanted something similar. We discussed their specific requirements and the scheme progressed from there." The audience is surrounded by an octagonal ring of back projection screens and columns which house the sound system, creating a 360° videowall effect. The screens derive their images from a mixture of Philips and Sony video projectors, with video, audio and SMPTE timecode running from Adtec video servers.
The overall system control is provided by an AMX (Panja) system, with the audio system routed through an Allen & Heath DR128 mixer. The loudspeaker system is based around four Renkus-Heinz SR61K cabinets, a BPS-12/1K subwoofer with a single 12" driver, and P2400 power amplifiers with C22 EQ modules. The lighting system is built around a Pulsar Masterpiece console, a Pulsar dimmer pack and a mixture of Pulsar, Strand and Thomas luminaires, mostly truss-mounted from the ceiling.
Theatre Botanica mirrors the rest of the Gardens, whose original idea grew from the rediscovery of elaborate water features that had lain hidden and forgotten in the woods at Pont Felin Gat, by Welsh artist William Wilkins. Wilkins then instigated their restoration, which was funded through a 50/50 financial collaboration of a Millennium Commission grant and fund raising to put in place the £40million plus that was needed.
