Projects in
Education

Collaborative AV design

Cardiff University ENGIN

The School of Engineering is housed inside the Grade II
listed Queen’s Buildings, .. read more

Clinical skills

University of Galway, School or Nursing & Health Sciences

The project involved the refurbishment of a number of
teaching spaces and simula .. read more

New college building

Manchester College

Situated in the heart of Manchester city centre, City Campus
Manchester opened in su .. read more

Theatre and studio design

CAPA College

A specialist provision for students aged 16-19 from across the North of England, CAP .. read more

Clinical AV consultancy

National University of Ireland Medical School

The School of Medicine is one of three schools within the College of Medicine, Nursi .. read more

AV design for University

Cardiff University Wider Be

The Wider Be (Well Informed Design Education and Research in the Built Environment) .. read more

New digital arts building

Manchester Metropolitan University SODA Building

The School of Digital Arts (SODA) is a £35m investment into work space, networks, t .. read more

Theatre specialist design

Manchester Metropolitan University Arts & Humanities Building

This award winning project has created an inspirational venue for training t .. read more

University of Greenwich Clinical Skills Centre

This project involves the rennovation of two buildings to create four Clinical S .. read more

Cardiff AV design and consultancy

Cardiff University Physical Learning Spaces

This project involved the complete refurbishment of the physical learning spaces in .. read more

Manchester College

Situated in the heart of Manchester city centre, City Campus Manchester opened in summer 2022 offering state-of-the-art, industry-standard facilities. The campus provides both exceptional study and is designed to ensure students have everything they need to have an amazing student experience.

The building contains a main theatre with tension wire grid, black box studio theatre, two film studios, TV studio, various music recording suites, radio studio, singing, dance and drama studios. It is home to the College’s Industry Excellence Academy for Creative and Digital Industries as well as UCEN Manchester’s Arden School of Theatre and Manchester Film School.

Drama by Design were involved with the project from feasibility study through to completion. We worked with the architects Bond Bryan on the design of the building and designed all the specialist technical systems.

The main theatre features a tension wire grid over the whole area, with two fly bars at the rear of the stage for backdrops. Infrastructure is designed around utilising LED luminaires with sequential power and DMX distribution. Facilities are provided to easily control the AV system for assemblies and conference use and for showing films. There are front, mid and rear stage curtain tracks, side masking curtains on tracks and an electrically retractable seating system.

The black box theatre has a conventional internally wired barrel grid with perimeter curtain track. Both theatre spaces are equipped with a comprehensive facility panel infrastructure allowing audio, video and comms signals to be easily accessed.

Music recording suites are provided for both the FE and HE parts of the College, each with a series of music rooms linked to control rooms for recording with a camera system enabling the spaces to be monitored.

The top floor has a range of singing, dance and drama studios. Some are equipped with active loudspeakers to enable music to be played, others have full performance facilities including lighting grids, facility panels and sound systems. The loudspeaker system is centrally controlled with local control and input plates for connecting mobile devices via cable or Bluetooth.

Communications systems around the building include front of house and backstage paging and show relay for the theatres, intercom systems for the theatre and music suites and induction loop assisted listening systems.

Drama by Design worked with the main contractor to deliver the project effectively to include testing and commissioning on completion.

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