Control all around
Published: MEA
QATAR: At the heart of the Mall of Qatar is a 360° theatre with acts of all kinds taking place on a multi-lift rotating stage. The lighting design around the stage was produced by Stephan Floeren of German consulting firm LichtUnit, with Udo Rath serving as his assistant and Desimir Skoracz as operator. Controlling the vast lighting setup is a wide range of MA Lighitng equipment.
‘As reliability and easy show control was crucial, MA Lighting was our first choice,’ explained Mr Floeren. ‘Especially because the video content is integrated into the lighting showfile which makes the work a lot easier for the operator. And, of course, MA was chosen because of its overall networking and control features.’
The MA Lighting solutions were installed by AVT. This includes a grandMA2 light, grandMA2 replay unit, MA onPC command wing, MA VPU plus MK2 video processor, four MA Network Switches, a pair of MA NPUs (Network Processing Units), 12 MA 2Port Nodes and two MA 4Port Nodes.
‘The so called “main shows” are a mixture of dance, live artist and music and were programmed in our LichtUnit studio with the use of a grandMA2 light, an MA VPU and an MA NPU,’ recalled Mr Florean. ‘The shows are timecoded and each last between 35 and 45 minutes. Because detailed preparation was needed, on site we only had to make small amendments. The biggest challenge was that the show takes place on a 360° stage with audience positions on three different levels. The task was to make it incredible to watch for every spectator in the house. And naturally each actor or artist has to been seen clearly from every seat, so it was sometimes a demanding exercise to set the lights for them.