Robe In the Mix at St James Power Station

Monday, July 16, 2007 || Robe Show Lighting

Over 200 Robe moving lights and LED fixtures have been specified and installed throughout St James Power Station, Singapore’s newest, largest and highest profile entertainment complex.

Sited within the charismatic 70,000 square foot shell of Singapore’s first coal-fired power station, the 43 million Singaporean dollar St James development has 4,500 capacity and offers a dynamic mix of entertainment across 9 venues including 5 regular live performance spaces, all with different music policies.

Singapore’s hottest destination venue was the brainchild of CEO Dennis Foo, legend of the Asian night scene.

St James’s Technical manager Craig Burridge rose to the huge challenge of designing and choosing lighting, sound and AV equipment for the various venues.

Burridge wanted to use a single brand of moving light throughout. He knew they needed to be the toughest fixtures available that were able to withstand the harsh and demanding operating environment.

He’d first encountered Robe fixtures whilst working with leading Singaporean rental company CSP, who have invested heavily in Robe over the last few years. When it came to equipping St James, he immediately thought they were “great lights for a great price”. After working with Robe first hand, he knew they were “Definitely the best such product on the market at the moment”. He adds that the breadth of the range was also exactly what was needed when kitting out a venue with multiple areas like St James.

The fixtures were all supplied via Robe SEA, run by Louis Teo - another deciding factor for Burridge - as he knew he could get excellent after-sales support from Teo and his team.

Power House

This is primarily a club with some live PAs and other acts. Located in one of the original building’s turbine halls, Power House offers 23 metres of headroom of which Burridge took full advantage ….. and installed a moving truss system, onto which most of the Robes are rigged.

The fixtures are 4 Robe ColorSpot 1200 ATs, 6 ColorSpot 575 ATs, 5 ColorWash 575 ATs, 4 ColorSpot 250 ATs plus 4 Scan 1200 XTs and four Scan 575 XTs. They are rigged all over the trusses. On the LED front, there are 8 Robe LEDBlinder 196 LTs, 4 Robe LEDWash 136 LTs and 4 Robe LEDBlinder 148 LTs. There are also strobes and over 100 PARs, with all sources controlled by a Hog iPC console.

This all produces an exciting and eclectic mix of colour, beams and movement in the air, around the room and onto the floor, keeping pace with the pumping, energetic mix of r’n’b, house and mainstream trance.

Burridge is particularly impressed with the response time of the LED blinders and their strobing effect – perfect for a club.

Dragonfly

This club and live music space features the best of Mandarin pop and was the first of the entertainment venues within St James to open.

Lighting is attached to a 9 metre high ground support system measuring 8 x 9 metres wide and had to be as flexible as possible. Burridge positioned 12 Robe ColorSpot 575 ATs, 6 ColorWash 575 ATs along with 4 LEDBlinder 196 LTs and over 100 PARs all around the structure. Control is another Hog iPC.

Boiler

This venue features the best of top 40 R‘n’B acts and includes residents Soul Kool from the Philippines. The compact stage has five sections of trussing placed vertically on the floor at the back. Each truss section features a Robe ColorSpot 575 AT, an LEDBlinder 148 LT, two 5K strobes and 2 PAR cans. All five columns are toned with LED PARs. A Hog 3PC controls these and another 40 LED PARs and 4 additional Robe ColorSpot 575 ATs which are hung on the ladder beams above the dancefloor. These units are used for front lighting the bands and illuminating the dancefloor.

The biggest lighting challenge in here was the practical one of maximising the small stage area and the not particularly convenient rigging points. “Once again, Robe units fitted the bill perfectly,” says Burridge.

Movida

The vibe and ambience changes yet again when passing through the portals of Movida, a rich fission of world music, bar, live and club cultures.

For fixtures, they chose four each of the Robe ColorSpot 250 and 575s and four ColorWash 250 ATs, plus 22 ColorMix 150 ATs, 14 Spot and 8 Wash versions.

Bellini Room

Upstairs, the intimate Bellini Room is configured in jazz Club style, complete with resident band, The Bellini Room House Band and singers, plus constant guest vocalists and musicians.

The stage area of this low ceilinged, intimate room is lit with 4 Robe LEDBlinder 148 LTs and 8 ColorSpot and 6 ColorWash 250 ATs, the latter picked for their neat dimensions. There are also two Robe LEDWash 148 LTs and 26 Anolis ArcSource 3 RGBs downlighting the wall along one side of the room.

In all St James venues, the Robe fixtures are worked hard and their functionality is fully utilised by Burridge and his technical team of 12. “The gear gets worked incredibly hard, and we have had virtually no problems at all with the Robes – they just keep on working” he says.

The Robe picture is completed in the Gallery Bar/VIP area. This large raised, triple-glazed bridge area overlooks four venues. The Gallery’s more understated lighting needed some expertly applied subliminality, which comes in the form of Robe LEDWash 136 LTs and LEDBlinder 148 LTs and 6 Scan 250 XTs.

Robe SEA’s Louis Teo says, “Getting into St James has really put Robe on the map in terms of brand awareness and Singapore’s club world, specially with the success profile, acclaim and popularity of the new venture. It’s been a fantastic experience all round working with Craig and his team, with Dennis Foo, and everyone involved in the project – they now have a world class venue”.

Robe Show Lighting: www.robelighting.com