The new £2.5m entertainment complex opened this summer after work began in 2013. Great attention to detail has been paid in the design of the glass complex that has been built and carefully integrated with the historic Edwardian pile of Twitchen House ... under the watchful guidance of English Heritage.
The new facilities include the Sail Loft entertainment lounge that contains the stage and the impressive interactive projection wall, and the all-day glass roofed Bar 5 cafe / bar together with a tasteful lighting scheme to reveal the magnificent facade of Twitchen House after dark.
S+H - based locally in Ilfracombe - was approached by owner, entrepreneur Rudi Lancaster with whom they have worked on previous projects. S+H's Terry Murtha project managed for the drapes, soft goods, lighting and LED effects specialists, commenting, "We were delighted to be asked onboard - obviously there were the local connections ... But also Rudi trusted us to come up with an inventive scheme that would add a bit of magic to the environment."
Central to creating that special touch of magic was the specification of the interactive projection wall system which reacts as people move in front of it.
The 5000 lumen projectors are rigged on the stage and feed the interactive 'wall' opposite, which is made up of a 15 metre wide image projected onto three 4 metre high electric roll up / down screens.
Projector content is based on Luminvision library stock and played back via their AdVis PC-based control software which also edge-blends the images together to make one large integrated scene.
The biggest challenge with lighting the Sail Loft stage was to make sure they had the capacity to deal with a wide variety of live entertainment - anything from a stand-up comedian to thumping DJ sets.
In here, Murtha proposed a basic stage lighting package comprising 12 x LED wash moving lights to cover the stage area which are installed on front and back trusses, with a ShowLED RGB starcloth used as the backdrop.
Forty-six other wash fixtures and LED moving lights were installed into the ceiling to bathe the room with colour and add movement and dynamics.
In the new 80 seater cinema, which is also central to the complex, Murtha suggested a star cloth ceiling. "The idea was to be able to produce a classic starry night sky effect all around including right across the ceiling above" he explained adding, "The best lighting 'moments' always involve a bit of theatrical magic."
The serge based fabric is hung in place with special brackets fabricated by S+H, and the twinkling LEDs are controlled via a Logic 800 controller.
"We had a free rein to design the technical elements needed. We listened to the overall vibe that they wanted to create there - fun, lively and appealing to a wide audience - and came up with some initial proposals to show the client, then developed the final installations from there."
"I was really keen to bring something new and different to the Twitchen experience that could be enjoyed by all guests and resulted in delivering the client the three distinctive high-impact AV elements at a good price," Murtha concludes.
(Jim Evans)
