Two South Korean theaters choose ETC lighting

ETC has been increasing its presence in South Korea, with dealer C&C Lightway recently completing two new-build projects at the Cheonan Arts Center and at Guri Art Hall near Seoul. Both venues were outfitted with a full ETC lighting system.

"Cheonan's 1,642 seat grand hall and accompanying 443-seat performing hall host a range of different types of productions, including famous musicals such as Mamma Mia and Les Misérables , as well as ballet and opera," says Oh-bum Kwon, design and engineering manager at C&C, "so the technicians were looking for equipment that would be truly versatile." An ETC system was the answer. C&C installed three Ion® control desks in the venue's theaters, along with almost 300 conventional Source Four® and Source Four Zoom™ fixtures, a Unison Paradigm® architectural control system, and Sensor3™ dimming.

At Guri Art Hall, with its new 600-seat grand hall and 280-seat concert hall, the staff was looking for equipment that would be able to provide high-resolution fades and would be familiar to both incoming and resident lighting operators. They purchased over 200 Source Four fixtures, a Paradigm system and Sensor3 dimming for the hall's two stages, plus four Ion desks to control it all. ETC Asia general manager Wynne Cheung says: "The combination of Ion and Sensor3 provides 16-bit fades, which means Guri Hall's dimming is so smooth that the steps are imperceptible under normal circumstances."

Paradigm systems were chosen for both venues, because they allow complete control of a building's architectural lighting. The buttons and LCD panels - which can be located anywhere in a building while being connected to the main control system - are easy for anyone to operate, even untrained staff, so cleaners or security personnel can set an appropriate state where they work. "The systems are set up so that the board operator is in charge," explains Cheung. "Other users would never be able to turn on the hall lights while concert lighting is being controlled from the desk. It makes everything really simple to use, while avoiding potential mishaps."

"Both of these projects were very large," says Kwon, "and we needed to work closely with the construction and architectural design firm, as well as the incoming technical managers, to ensure that they got the exact equipment they needed." C&C, its project manager Sang-in Kim and field manager Yoon-kyun Lee advised the clients throughout the process to help them find the right products, and ETC staff made site visits to give demonstrations on a range of equipment before they decided on a system.

"We've had some great feedback from the technical managers at both centers, and reviews have even mentioned the impressive lighting systems," says Cheung.

Photo courtesy of C&C Lightway Inc.