project: Lyon Performance Hall

owner: Oklahoma Wesleyan University

location: Bartlesville, Oklahoma

architect: Milton Powell & Partners

Overview

The Performance Hall is a space utilized for both lectures and performances at the university including recitals, drama, and concerts. Encore Design Group provided lighting system and rigging system design and consulting services for this facility.

Design Charge

The Performance Hall was intended to be a multi-purpose space that required both accommodation for theatre and musical performance. This criteria impacted both lighting and rigging as the various types of performances possess different requirements. To accomplish this criteria, we coordinated with the architect and acoustician to design a stage floor and a rotating stage panel system to accommodate both types of performances.

Rotating Stage Panels

As discussed, the performance hall would be used for both drama and musical performance. As black fabric draperies for masking were desired for drama, and reflective panels were desired for music, we designed a rotating panel system that has black fabric on one side and decorative hard wood on the opposite. These panels are suspended above and moved on and off stage by heavy duty tracks. The panels rotate through the use of heavy duty pivot devices. The performance hall contains six of these rotating panels (three on each side of the stage) that are nearly 22 feet in height and 4 feet in width.

Lighting System

Control for the lighting system is located in the Control Booth at the rear of the Hall. Sightline studies were provided to ensure adequate line of sight between the operator and the stage. Stage and house lighting is controlled via a 24/48 channel microprocessor based lighting console. Stage lighting is dimmed through the use of distributed dimming strips.

Front Lighting Position

Front lighting for the stage consists of one lighting beam located between the ceiling reflectors over the audience area. This lighting beam is mounted from structure above the suspended ceiling reflectors. Distributed dimming strips are mounted to the top of the lighting beam pipe, while the low profile combination of pars and ellipsoids are mounted to the underside.

Down Lighting Positions

Downlighting for the stage is accomplished through a combination of fresnel and par lighting instruments. These instruments are mounted to the pipe grid over the stage and are dimmed through distributed dimming strips.

Stage Pipe Grid

A pipe grid system is utilized over the stage for the hanging of lighting instruments, the rotating panels, and upstage traveling drapes. The pipe grid is suspended from structure above and intersects on four foot intervals.