UK - Watford Grammar School's new music centre, designed by Tim Ronalds Architects, has bnenefitted from treatment by Arup Acoustics. Additionally, ETC lighting and controls have been installed by Lighting Logic.

Raf Orlowski, director at Arup Acoustics, says, "Around 15 years ago, Arup Acoustics carried out a survey of music facilities in schools for the then DfES and found inadequate conditions in many instances; pupils practicing in corridors, music classes blighted by extraneous noise and band rehearsals in totally inappropriate acoustic environments. This survey led eventual

USA - Global communications company Imagination (USA) Inc has unveiled its new booth design for the luxury bathroom brand Toto, unveiled at the recent Kitchen/Bathroom Industry Show & Conference (K/BIS) in Chicago. This is the largest biggest bathroom and kitchen retail exhibitions in the US with over 20,000 visitors attending each day.

The new stand has been designed by Imagination's New York team to showcase the full range of the global brands luxury products as well bringing to life Toto's philosophy of 'totology' - a quest to enrich lives today, while simultaneously conserving and

China - Beijing has become a hot spot for avant-garde architecture as the world pays more attention to the city's building boom. Many of the world's great architects have bold structures sprouting all over the city, with such descriptive nicknames as the bird's nest, twisted doughnut and eggshell. Even surrounded by such ultra-modern marvels, the New Poly Plaza in Beijing stands tall as a bold landmark building. Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), it is recognized as one of the most innovative architectural designs in the world. The building incorporates 24 stories of office s

UK - Despite the issues that have been making the headlines concerning the opening of Heathrow's new Terminal 5, there is still much to be proud of in the building, including a major design and installation project recently completed for World Duty Free by Bradford-based audio specialists Pro Audio Systems. The contract, awarded against stiff national competition, was to advise World Duty Free on the best and most innovative way to operate a fully integrated sound and visual media marketing package throughout their stores.

To this end, Pro Audio Systems created an integrated network o

UK - The first exhibitors have already committed to next year's Showlight which takes place at BBC Scotland's headquarters in Glasgow, from 16-19 May 2009. Martin Professional, the main sponsor for the event, was first to sign up, followed by ETC, Gerriets, MA Lighting, Pixel Range, Rainbow Colour Changers, Robe UK, Robert Juliat and Selecon Europe.

Mark Ravenhill, vice-president for television and theatre lighting at Martin Professional, says, "Showlight has emerged as one of the most important events for lighting professionals, an invaluable asset to the ongoing development of

UK - Large-format projection specialists E/T/C London created spectacular 90m wide images and produced the soundtrack for a special large scale outdoor event to launch the new Sunderland Aquatic Centre, the North East's first Olympic-sized swimming pool.

Working closely with show producers Magnetic Events, and soundscape producer Karen Monid, E/T/C's Ross Ashton interpreted an original storyboard by Magnetic's Robin Morley to create a 15-minute collage of images based on aquatic themes, interwoven with water-related elements from the City's past and present, with "the swimmer&quo

Iceland - The Café Paris at the Kringlan shopping mall, a modern shopping and recreational centre situated close to Reykjavik City Theatre has a strong focus on providing a quality music environment for its clientele as well as outstanding coffee and hot chocolate.

"Owner Grétar Ingi Berndsen knows a lot about good audio," said Gudmundur Finnsson of Pfaff, Iceland who installed the audio. Berndsen is now carefully building the Café Paris brand of music bars. "The downtown site has been open for two years and is well used," said Gudmundur, "

UK - The Association of British Theatre Technician's ABTT Theatre Show is gearing up to celebrate its 30th birthday in London's Royal Horticultural Halls, 11-12 June 2008.

Many new innovations on the lighting front will be showcased this year with an emphasis on energy efficiency in line with the Theatres Trust conference on sustainable theatres to be held on 10 June.

Selecon will showcase its new 80V Power Supply with direct DMX control.

ETC will highlight products that offer low cost of ownership and sustainable solutions. PRG Europe will highlight its products and services.

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USA - Technomad Associates, LLC reports that San Mateo Community College District in California has standardized on Technomad weatherproof loudspeakers on its three Bay Area campuses. Skyline College in San Bruno; CaƱada College in Redwood City; and the College of San Mateo are home to multiple indoor and outdoor venues now using Technomad Vienna 16 and Noho C loudspeakers for live sports and event coverage, with additional venues to follow as the district moves closer to completing a multi-year, multi-venue upgrade project that covers everything from field surfaces to bleachers to PA

UK - Litestructures Studios provided world tour support services during April, for Kylie Minogue. Approached by production manager Kevin Hopgood, the studio catered for Kylie's team who stayed 22 days for full rehearsals in preparation for her Kylie X2008 world tour which kicked off last week in Paris.

While rehearsing, Kylie's creative crew made various set changes and Litestructures were able to support these. Working in conjunction with Creative director William Becker, Litestructures facilitated many new elements, including an 8'x 8' cube frame feature, powder coated in bla

UK - The Arcola Theatre in Hackney has been nominated for a major national prize at The Charity Awards 2008, the UK charity sector's most prestigious award scheme. Chosen from a long list of entries, the theatre, which provides high calibre, accessible theatre and aims to become the world's first sustainable arts venue, has been shortlisted in the Animals and the environment category. It is hoping to pick up the coveted award at an awards ceremony in London on 19 June.

The annual Charity Awards ceremony, sponsored by the Charities Aid Foundation and The Times newspaper, is the most h

UK - Litestructures has expanded its UK design force with the recruitment of sales design engineer Patrick Lockwood.

Lockwood has a proven track record within the industry; he started his career 18 years ago as a qualified welder/fabricator within James Thomas Engineering. He then progressed on to the export sales and project teams where he managed many concert, theatre and design projects from initial enquiry through to final completion. Moving on as a sales engineer, he then joined Tomcat UK for four years.

Lee Brooks, sales director comments: "It's not everyday that you get

UK - Current Thinking, based in Sunderland, has supplied the massive network of integrated fire telephones and disabled refuge points installed throughout the Wimbledon Lawn tennis complex during the multi-million redevelopment of the world's most famous tennis centre.

The system, called VoCALL is a fully distributed Emergency Voice Communication System (EVCS), complying fully with BS5839-Part9:2003 and combines both fire telephones and disabled refuge points. It covers all buildings including offices, media centre, main court complexes and museum across the South London site.

Chris

Russia - Aero line array are the systems of choice for a number of large venue sports projects in Moscow, including the CSKA stadium, Central Sports Army Club Moscow which is noted internationally for its major league football, basketball and hockey teams.

This centre celebrates sports events with wide media coverage. Bossman, D.A.S. distributor for Russia, was responsible for this project and chose D.A.S. Audio's Aero 38A.powered line array systems. 16 of these units were installed as a central cluster and eight Aero 218 subs as bass reinforcement.

Bossman installed 16 powered Aero

UK - Specialist design and printing company Sunbaba launched their new 'Block Out' material at this year's ABTT theatre show, 10th - 11th June.

Sourcing creative and innovative solutions for the theatres and production teams, Sunbaba's portfolio of materials are used for drapes, scenery and set designs across professional and amateur dramatics.

The new Block Out material allows its users to create two different images, one a printed image and the other a backlit silhouette. The material is first printed with the images that are to be rear blocked, then tested on a light box to ensur

UK - With the high profile of the Cardiff Bay development in Cardiff which includes the Welsh Assembly and the Wales Millennium Centre, a new multi-storey car park, owned by Knight Frank LLP needed to integrate with this dynamic area. To achieve this, the architect Scott Brownrigg and lighting designer Paul Traynor PLDA of Light Bureau developed the idea of six wave shape structures to be installed on the long facade of the new car park.

The steel and fabric structures were manufactured and installed by Base Structures with the intention of the three-dimensional wave shapes to link th

UK - Live event specialist tdc provided a high-tech communication solution for the final service by the Bishop of Sheffield the Rt Rev Jack Nicholls. More than 1,000 worshippers were able to take part in the service after tdc installed a special microwave link between Sheffield Cathedral, where the event was held, and the Cutlers' Hall.

The link was used to overcome the fact that although the buildings are so close together, there is no way of simply running a cable because of the tramlines and overhead power lines.

Bishop Jack is retiring after more than 10 years in his role in She

UK - London-based Haymarket Media Group is taking steps to increase energy efficiency, and has appointed Greenled Light to further reduce its carbon footprint through sustainable LED lighting.

These enhancements are already reducing Haymarket's energy output. Replacing the lights with Greenled's Antares lamps and adding PIRs in the corridors, lavatories and recreation zones has reduced energy use in these areas by 90%, and will further reduce its footprint by 74 carbon tonnes per year, in addition to saving the company in excess of £100,000 in electricity costs over the next 10

UK - When the Cottesloe Theatre was ready to retire its trusty d&b sound system after more than a decade of hard labour, Rich Walsh, Sound supervisor for the Cottesloe, was in do doubt that he wanted to remain with the same brand.

Technology has advanced in leaps and bounds since the original d&b system was installed, and now Walsh knew he could take advantage of a more compct and energy efficient footprint - specifying a system that could be remotely set-up, monitored and healthchecked over Ethernet.

He contacted the Theatre's regular audio suppliers, Orbital Sound, who delivered e

UK - Lighting Technology Projects (LTP) has supplied and installed a low resolution video media wall, designed and specified by Speirs & Major Associates (SaMA) for the atrium of IPC Media's new London HQ. This is in the Blue Fin Building, part of the Bankside 1,2,3 development in Southwark.

Referred to SaMA by Architainment, the Philips SSL value-added reseller, LTP applied its specialist installation and engineering knowledge to fit the 9500 nodes of Color Kinetics RGB 'Flex SL' which makes up the 40m long by 3m high media wall.

SaMA worked with the building's architects, Allies &

UK - Central Sussex College's Phase 1 and 2 multi-million pound redevelopment of its Haywards Heath sixth form campus is now complete with an innovative new theatre space, The Hub.

The Hub is an exciting new venue incorporating the most up to date facilities and state of the art equipment and is a good example of the college's strong association with the performing arts. The space has been designed to effectively accentuate performances and students ability to perform at a professional level.

Stage Electrics was responsible for the installation, bringing to life the vision of a flex

UK - Cotswold Leisure Cirencester has provided an invaluable public sports facility in Cirencester for many years. But when faced with increased private competition and deteriorating conditions, Cotswold District Council took the decision to demolish its existing leisure centre and replace it with a new centre to meet the needs of its population for the next few decades. PEL Services Ltd was awarded the contract to supply, install and commission all the fire, security, safety and audio-visual systems for the new venue.

With a raft of new legislation in place to help protect the public

USA - At its annual Member Meeting and Industry Forum during InfoComm 08, NSCA appointed two new members to the association's Board of Directors. Dave Ferlino, president of VistaCom, and Michael Hester, managing partner of Beacon Communications, will each join the NSCA Board for three-year terms.Andy Musci, president of Altel Systems, took the helm as president when Nancy Emerson, vice president of Vodaci Technologies, retired from the NSCA Board in June.

"Andy will continue to bring great enthusiasm and passion to the Board," said NSCA executive director Chuck Wilson. "

UK - Reviewing its own top ten theatres at risk for 2008 in England, The Theatres Trust welcomed English Heritage's new initiative to protect the nation's heritage. Of the 68 theatres in England on The Theatres Trust's Theatre Buildings at Risk register (TBAR), 34 currently face an uncertain future and are at high risk. The top ten theatres in the Trust's 2008 TBAR include theatres that remain empty, are under threat of demolition, neglect or unsympathetic redevelopment, and lack of funds for repairs and restoration.

Following the launch of English Heritage's new Heritage at Risk regi

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