DALLAS, TX — Opera productions at the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House in the new AT&T Performing Arts Center in Dallas are opening to rave reviews — even before the fat lady sings. The reason: a chandelier controlled by custom rigging from J. R. Clancy. “Fabulous,” “downright magical,” and “thrilling” — those are just a few of the adjectives used in the media to describe the venue’s moving chandelier.
“When the house lights dim, a huge chandelier, made of [more than] 300 glowing acrylic tubes in a stalactite form, builds anticipation as it retracts in shimmering colors,” wrote James S. Russell for Bloomberg.com.
The chandelier “hovers over the audience, and when cranked up into the ceiling as the program is about to begin, it produces an effect like a star field,” reported KERA-TV in Dallas. “The field disappears when the music starts.”
J. R. Clancy worked closely with design engineer Claude Engle on the concept imagined by Foster + Partners, an architectural firm in the United Kingdom.
The custom-built, 40-foot-high chandelier features 318 cast acrylic rods, each of which vanishes independently as the house lights dim before a production begins.
Clancy engineers did extensive research to determine the materials and methods required to light each rod entirely from end to end. Their design specifications were executed by Mike Wood Consulting and Ingham Designs, who supplied the acrylic rods, an RGBW LED illuminator, and specifications for the electronics and lighting control required to create the visual effects.
Clancy technology made it possible for the rods to retract into the ceiling, powered by 44 custom-designed winches, mounted around the circumference of the chandelier’s decagonal rings, with up to eight lines per winch—one for each rod. Each ring holds up to eight acrylic rods, spaced six to 24 inches apart—and each rod can travel as much as 60 feet as it glides into position.
The rods are hung using special suspension media, with a strength member to hold the acrylic rods’ weight, paired with a DMX power cable, both in one package. Clancy provided the specifications for construction of the cable, and put its engineering expertise to work to find the most effective way for the rods to move smoothly in an out of each dedicated hole.
The solution included a series of brushes inserted into the metal ceiling tubes that hold each rod. The brushes keep the rods from striking the sides of the holes, allowing them to move through with no danger of mishap. As added benefits, the brushes block light from spilling beyond each rod, and serve as acoustic buffers to keep the sound level from the moving chandelier at a minimum.
A wall-mounted SceneControl 500—Clancy’s top-of-the-line rigging control system—provides the rods’ smooth, synchronized movement. The operator controls the movement using SceneControl’s handheld pendant, producing the extraordinary effect that so impressed the audience at the center’s opening night on October 15.
The moving chandelier’s visual effect was the top priority for the design, manufacturing and installation teams involved in the project—but keeping the audience safe beneath it was equally important, noted Robert Degenkolb, the J.R. Clancy project manager who led the project.
“When we developed the cable, we did extensive testing of the load capacity,” he said. “It exceeded an 8:1 safety factor, even in a gross overload situation. If anything binds up, the spring will trip and the hoist shuts down.”
In addition to the chandelier, J. R. Clancy provided 85 counterweight rigging line sets for the stage house, as well as the fire curtain, house curtain, and a custom-designed point hoist for operation of the fire curtain. J. R. Clancy’s rigging secures the speaker cluster hoists and doors, and Clancy’s PowerLift motorized rigging enables the raising and lowering of adjustable acoustic panels.
For more information, please visit www.jrclancy.com.
