LSI Projects digitizes historic London music venue St Luke's

The iconic St Luke’s Anglican Church building has been converted into a modern performance space, Top-notch recordings and learning, as part of the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO). A technical and digital remodeling designed and integrated by LSI Projects as part of the Future ready project.

After more than two decades of continuous use, the building infrastructure St Luke’s has been completely modernized to expand its digital and technical capabilities as part of the musical and artistic activity of the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO).

As part of the project Future ready, the technical renovation of the venue, carried out by LSI Projects, has gone beyond replace sound systems, visuals and lighting to become a space that supports the evolution of the LSO.

This is what he points out Sabina Noble, Principal of St Luke's: “This remodeling is based on more than twenty years of experience in the facility as performance venue, recordings and the LSO Discovery program, supporting artistic activity, digital production and community outreach. Rethinking the venue from within has opened opportunities for the LSO that, simply, "They didn't exist before.".

The Future ready project allowed the team, along with Theatre Projects Consultants y LSI, redesign these systems from scratch. Much of that work focused on Jerwood Hall, the main performance space at St Luke’s, in which a unified lighting system has been installed for performances, work and concert halls, integrating production luminaires with architectural and emergency lighting Max Fordham.

The new system integrates seamlessly between ETC Paradigm and the LSO lighting table itself, offering the team just what they need: subtlety for small outfits, power for full orchestras and the confidence that, no matter what happens on stage, the room will respond.

But the technical transformation has extended beyond the lighting table. As St. Luke's became a recording and live broadcast center, his old audio setup was increasingly limiting him. The remodeling solved this problem with a new containment and wiring system, a audio control room dedicated, built to professional studio standards, and another of digital edition which now functions as a camera control gallery for broadcast and filmed events.

As project systems integrator, LSI was responsible for the complete technical installation of the building, since the lighting control and energy management systems; infrastructure audio and communications networked to those of digital intercom and assisted listening; megaphony in all space; facilities of broadcast and video production, plus a new and extensive fiber cabling, data and passwordl; the equipment of the new audio control room and the main.

A building of this age and category also had its own challenges: narrow containment pathways, limited space and the impossibility of adding new wiring without major works. With a large part of the original corridors and galleries already occupied, Installing the new infrastructure required extremely careful planning.

“We fully trust the creativity of the LSI construction team to find solutions, including rerouting some of the wiring between the new equipment rooms in the basement and the clock tower - explains John Riddell, director de Theatre Projects-. In the end, all services were installed correctly, even in the most complicated areas, and the infrastructure is accessible for future updates”.

As he adds Liam Hawes, LSI project manager, “work in a Grade I listed building involved a constant balance between performance and protection. Close coordination between the entire project team and on-time delivery were essential, especially taking into account the limited space available on the site”.

Logistical complexity transcended construction. The entire venue, including instruments, stage and technical equipment, had to be stored in multiple locations. The trials, recordings and sessions had to be 'reimagined' as a mobile program, with optimized production systems adapted for remote use.

“During the entire construction, fluid communication was maintained between LSO as the client., Avison Young as project manager, the design team, GPF Lewis as contractor and key subcontractors, including LSI -recalls Noble-. This fluidity allowed, when challenges arose, we could resolve them quickly and keep the project on track”.

After its recent reopening, The benefits of the remodeling have been felt almost immediately. Specialized infrastructure now separates operational from technical demands, hybrid events can be held more efficiently and the building's digital structure allows for faster transitions between activities.

Reconfigured spaces also support simultaneous programming, a turning point for the organization. “In these first months, The improvements and additional capacity are already making a real difference, says Noble.. “We can now welcome many more people to the St Luke’s program and it is wonderful to see so many people benefiting from the work done.”.

Acoustically, Jerwood Hall has been refined through a series of superior fixed reflectors designed by Threshold Acoustics and specified by Theater Projects. These improvements have increased the immediacy, presence and clarity for the orchestra, helping larger sections hear each other much more accurately.

However, para Riddell, the new audio control room stands out above all: “It is an exceptionally well finished space that rivals those of the most famous professional studios. It's not just a beautiful room, but it works wonderfully”.