05.11.2014 | Elation Lighting Durability at ECI Cultuurfabriek in The Netherlands

In September 2012, the Center for the Arts, the Vinegar Factory (Azijnfabriek) and associated arthouse cinemas in Roermond, The Netherlands, merged to form the new ECI Culture Factory (ECI Cultuurfabriek). ECI Cultuurfabriek is housed in a renovated factory building that no longer produces industrial goods but instead hosts a variety of cultural events illuminated by an Elation lighting package of Platinum Series moving heads and LED PAR lights.

ECI Cultuurfabriek includes a theatre, stage, two cinemas, café and gallery space all under one roof and hosts a variety of cultural events from music, dance and theater to workshops and special project days. Restoration of the former factory, actually a historically significant building, took two and a half years to complete.

“This was the perfect moment for the new location to start with a complete LED installation,” says Maarten Janssen, head technician and stage manager at ECI. “Because I had some knowledge of LED from working previously at a lighting company (Xilver BV), it was a lot easier to come with ideas about what we could do with LED within the constraints of our budget. During preparation of the building process and during construction itself, I was responsible for the entire lighting design, including contacts and implementation of the system.”

Theatre and POP stage

The venue’s two main entertainment spaces are the 240-seat Theatre and 600-capacity live music POP stage, where, despite its name, all manner of music is on the menu from famous Dutch bands to internationally known artists. “In the Theatre we required 7-color LED lighting but in the POP stage we could have a little simpler RGB, RGBA or RGBW color mixing. We needed it to be a high quality fixture and proper aftercare/service was important,” Maarten explains. Installed In POP are high power RGBW Platinum Wash LED Zoom moving heads and compact CMY color mixing Platinum Spot 5R Pro luminaires with zoom. Some 62 EPAR QA LED PAR lights with RGBA LEDs are mounted in the rig with a further 8 positioned on the floor. In the Theatre are also installed Elation Platinum Wash LED Zoom fixtures along with ELED DW Par 56 lights.

Lighting choice

Lighting supply and installation of the system was undertaken by Lightco, the lighting sales division of the Ampco Flashlight Group. “We decided on the Platinum Wash LED Zoom because of its high output and even illumination, which makes it work well as a nice wash spot,” comments Marnix Kuling, Lightco account manager on the install who created the lighting design together with ECI’s Maarten Jansen. “The Spot 5R has all the functionality required for the high-energy atmosphere in POP. Furthermore, it is energy efficient and has a long lamp life of 2000 hours. We used the Elation EPAR because of the even illumination, good smooth dimming and the fact that it has no fan.”

Maarten says that the decision to go with Elation was actually rather easy. “Elation offers a wide range of products with an excellent price/quality ratio,” he says. “Personally, I’d rather have one relationship with a supplier or manufacturer as this creates more trust.”

The Elation fixtures are used for all sorts of in-house productions with some fixtures, like the ELED DW Par 56’s, moving from space to space as needed. “As head technician, I wanted some standard as far as equipment,” Maarten says. “That is, the same fixtures throughout the entire venue that needed to be very versatile. I wanted to equip the building so that we can more easily adapt to various situations.”

The decision to use Elation fixtures was mainly based on quality and not so much financially, Maarten says. “Of course the possibilities you have with the lighting also played a part. I like the match with the EPAR QA and the Platinum Wash LED Zoom for example, which simplifies programming. The Platinum Spot 5R PRO was chosen for its CMY color mixing, which makes it a lot easier to color match with the LED fixtures (color palettes).”

Low consumption, low heat, higher savings

Low power consumption and low heat production were also key issues in fixture choice. As the Elation LED fixtures produce little heat, the need for forced cooling from the venue’s climate control system is reduced, which translates to savings on the air conditioning bill as well as cost savings due to the lower power consumption of the fixtures.

“Having used the lighting for more than two years now, we really trust Elation and their products,” Maarten concludes. “I would like to thank Marnix Kuling at Lightco for his proficiency and advice during the entire process with a further thanks to the local authorities for believing in the durability of the ECI Cultuurfabriek and the new products.”

POP Stage:

6 x Elation Platinum Wash LED Zoom

6 x Elation Platinum Spot 5R Pro

70 x Elation EPAR QA

3 x Elation ELED DW Par 56

1 x Elation E-node 8 Artnet/DMX Node

4 x ADJ Freq 16 Strobe

4 x OPTO Branch 4 splitter

Theatre:

4 x Elation Platinum Wash LED Zoom

23 x Elation ELED DW Par 56

1 x Elation E-node 8 Artnet/DMX Node