Olivia PowellNearly 100 Robe LED lighting fixtures are used in the house lighting package at Magazine London – London’s newest event space.
It has been less than a year since proceedings started for Venue Lab’s newest venture, Magazine London, and the event space has now officially opened its doors.
This purpose-built space is the largest of its kind in London, offering 3,205sqm for up to 3,000 people standing.
The site also features a 7,000-capacity outdoor showground with views across the river towards Canary Wharf.
Space 1 has an eight-metre-high, floor-to-ceiling glass window and access to a private balcony that allows guests to view the Canary Wharf cityscape, which can either be used as a space in it’s own right, or as a reception.
The largest internal space at Magazine London is Space 2.
The interior fit-out is made up of over 2,100 OSB boards that aim to bring warmth to the building’s warehouse-style design. The project used 149,713 screws in addition to 13.96 miles of timber and 757.5 litres of paint to turn the venue RAL9005 black.
This black palette continues throughout the venue, through the steel skeleton, production trusses, polished concrete floor and the outdoor limestone patio. Space 2 can accommodate 3,000 standing, 2,000 seated for a conference or 1,400 for a large-scale dinner.
Simon Jones of SJ-TPM, was brought onboard by Venue Lab as the technical consultant. Jones was responsible for coordinating all technical aspects of event production.
Jones’ brief involved designing the overall technical infrastructure including house sound and lighting systems, and managing the sourcing, purchase and installation of all production equipment.
Magazine wanted to offer a versatile in-house production package that included lighting, rigging, sound, power and data distribution; having the option to be adapted by artists/clients wanting to bring in their own production elements, or to be used in its entirety.
Since Magazine London was constructed with materials and techniques that aimed to embrace the area’s industrial heritage and future, Jones wanted to ensure the production install aligned with this ethos.
When picking the technical kit, Jones wanted to make sure he selected the ‘best, most versatile and practical energy-saving options’.
Jones had numerous positive experiences with Robe, one of which included specifying large quantities of BMFL moving lights for the Westfield London retail complex.
Jones said: “I’ve been hands-on with Robe products for several years, they are rock solid and the service (from local distributor Robe UK) is great, so they were obviously going to be the go-to choice for the Magazine London project”.
Jones pursued further creative expertise from lighting specialists Dave Amos and Ben Cash from Flare Lighting, who brought great experience in designing for a range of events and ‘out-of-the-box’ live shows with artists including the Pet Shop Boys and Mark Ronson.
Amos and Cash advised on the install to assist in ensuring that Magazine would have the best options for a range of scenarios. Jones, Cash and Amos also consulted a variety of other event and show lighting designers from various different disciplines.
The structural arches of Magazine offer from seven to nine metres of headroom with a weight loading of five tonnes per arch, which allowed for a Prolyte truss and rigging system to be installed in the roof.
Once a basic lighting requirements brief had been constructed, Jones started discussions with several manufacturers to get an idea of the available technologies. From this research, he produced a house lighting budget which was then approved by the Venue Lab team.
Jones settled on LED light sources, and when taking into account the considerations proposed by Amos and Cash, he seetled on the purchase of 14 Spiiders, 16 T1 Profiles and 65 Divine 160 RGBW flood/washes from Robe for the venue.
Jones said: “The T1s offer great brightness, high-quality output, multiple features and are extremely power-efficient. While the Spiiders are an ‘industry standard’ LED wash, they have a very intense brightness, a great variety of colours, as well as being small and light, taking up very little space.”
Using this set up, Magazine London can offer a base house lighting option for all events with the ability to tailor production packages if needed.