The hoists, all 3t Liftkets, are utilised to fly five separate rectangular acoustic roof panels, each suspended by 10 hoists. These each move individually with up to 4m of vertical travel, the idea being to create a “fully flexible acoustic space offering the optimum sonic environment for a wide variety of performances,” from choral and orchestral works to experimental and electronic.
Each panel weighs approximately 15t. The internal aluminium ceiling structure consists of a trussing grid designed to take a weight of up to 100t, including all the panels and motors.
The fixed speed Liftket hoists are encoded, and the Smart 8 controller allowed these hoists to be programmed and controlled from a single unit. The seven Smart 8 units offer a total of 56 ways of control.
Kinesys fitted the seven controllers inside a master installation cabinet together with a custom emergency stop unit, Ethernet hub and all the other system elements. Linked to this were two additional termination chambers “allowing the motor controllers to be easily hard-wired into the building system,” Kinesys explained.
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