ETC dimming and control has been installed at the Lahti City Theatre in southern Finland as part of a major refurbishment completed earlier this summer.
Finnish distributor Studiotec Oy installed some 800 ways of ETC Sensor dimming as well as the country’s first Unison Paradigm system for house and work lights. Studiotec’s lighting product manager Esa Horttanainen explains: “The project was planned over the course of two years, as the theatre’s technical managers took some time to decide on the Sensor dimming package. They wanted to be sure that everything they specified would do everything required.
“In addition to holding musicals, operettas and dramas, during the day the theatre often hosts corporate events, for which the house staff need to be able to quickly and easily change lighting states. The theatre managers requested ETC’s newest and most up to date architectural lighting control system, Paradigm, along with two touch sensitive panels so that all authorised staff are able to alter lighting states without needing technical training.”
Project manager for ETC in Finland, Oskar Krogell, adds: “The theatre managers wanted to be able to program the lighting on a control desk and then take snapshots of it so that untrained users can recall that particular look. This is exactly what ETC’s Unison Paradigm system was designed for: it merges architectural lighting control with ETC’s expertise in entertainment lighting control to give the best of both worlds.”
The genius in Paradigm’s functionality is its LightDesigner software, an original operating system to run unique applications. For years, an architectural lighting control system had ‘press-a-button, lights-come-on’ functionality. Now the system can be configured to enable the user to press a button and have the system manage lighting states automatically. Alternatively, the software and the system can be used together as if they were a desk, programming dynamic lighting.
The installation of Sensor dimming and Unison Paradigm comes on the heels of the installation of two ETC Congo jr control desks in the smaller of the theatre’s two main spaces two years ago and is the first major technical work done at the venue since it opened in 1983. The city theatre is one of the largest professional theatre houses in Finland, both in size and capacity and in terms of the number of productions and first-nights. The theatre stages eight-11 new plays or musicals each year.
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