PAI has installed a sound and lighting scheme for the new University of Wales Institute Cardiff (UWIC) Student Union building, reports David Davies. Located at the Cyncoed Campus, north Cardiff, the new building features a two-level bar/social area, Centro, for which PAI was invited to specify a versatile technical solution.
In response to the call for a system able to cope with a wide variety of day- and night-time applications encompassing everything from conferences to comedy shows and live music performances, the audio specification features the following components: Logic System IS12 mid-tops and four B300i bass speakers in the lower bar; eight Electro-Voice EVID speakers in the seating/dining area to the side of the upper bar; and a BSS Soundweb device to process and zone audio. Sources include multichannel TV provider SUB TV, a CD player, a DJ set-up and, when required, an external mixer.
Other features of the scheme include a PAI-devised ‘media wall’ with screens mounted into a custom steel frame designed by Keith Elms, and a minimal lighting design based around colour-changing LED PAR light fixtures and, for control, a Pulsar Masterpiece replay unit.
Overseeing the PAI team were Ross Whitehead and Andy Bonehill, who worked in close conjunction throughout with Swansea-based interior designers Thomas Parry.
Andy Bonehill told IE that the Cardiff project represented the latest in a long line of university installs and the further continuation of an enduring association with UWIC. “We started on site in July and completed the project in October,” he recalled. “The UWIC wanted to be able to run daytime events and then morph the venue for live performances, etc, in the evening. This set-up allows them to do that, and the feedback has been very good.”
Bonehill added that PAI is currently discussing a number of other university projects expected to take place this summer.
