St Luke’s is an 18th-century Grade 1 listed Hawksmoor church in Islington, London. After being left as a “managed ruin” from 1959, St Luke’s was taken over in 1996 by the London Symphony Orchestra and lovingly restored over the course of seven years. Today LSO St Luke’s is the home of LSO’s music education programme LSO Discovery, as well as a thriving musical rehearsal, performance and recording space, and the base for LSO’s community.
Pharos control solutions are being used by the team at LSO St Luke’s to help create adaptable, user friendly, and easily customisable lighting across several different areas. First was the entrance and staircase, newly fitted with RGBA LED AR111 fixtures to enable brand colour lighting for corporate events. Simon Needle of White Light (who advised on the project and supplied the lamps) suggested a Pharos TPC for control.
The next project was the front-of-house lobby area, with new RGBA washes lighting the original brickwork. These washes double as working lights for caterers when needed, and are also under TPC control. Next, the team at LSO St Luke’s transferred all exterior lighting control over to the Pharos system. The outside of the building is lit with Pulsar Chromaflood 200 fixtures that illuminate the walls and distinctive obelisk-style spire.
As part of LSO St Luke’s ongoing energy conservation effort, the Crypt Café fluorescent lighting was replaced with a RGB LED strip, supplied by MGC Lamps. A Pharos BPS is soon to be installed here, giving the Café Manager local control over the lighting, as well as the ability to trigger both sound and lights for the “please take your seats” announcements.
Lastly, the building has a Gamelan room which is used for educational projects, corporate team-building sessions, and receptions. This room has been brought to life by some coloured uplighting and subtly animated wall washes. Along with the existing TPC running the various zones and timelines, a second TPC is due to be installed in the FOH area for easy local control.
All projects were designed, installed, and programmed by the small, dedicated in-house technical team, with networking assistance from LSO’s IT department.
