Frederick Douglass Auditorium at University of Newcastle

Abacus Stagetech were contracted by Sir Robert McAlpine to carry out an installation of large scale curtains and electrically operated curtain track into the Frederick Douglass Auditorium at University of Newcastle. This is currently the largest 1000 seater auditorium in a european university and has the capability of being divided into a 750 and 250 seat at the flick of a switch . Large partition doors will split the auditorium into the unequal halves, and the 2 large curtains will provide a backdrop for projection in each of the lecture theatres. The particular requirement was for a near silent operation of the curtain tracks which each carry a 21 metre wide by 9 metre drop curtain. The whole curtain needed to store into a small area back stage which needed a bespoke design spooling chain track storage solution by Triple E , which accomplished the requirement. The track system can be controlled either by wireless remote or by integration into a computer sequencing routine for coordination with lighting and audio. This is currently our largest contract to date and was fulfilled on budget and in one of busiest areas on the whole construction site in a remarkably tight schedule as it was, predictably, the last part of the project to be installed.’

For more information on Frederick Douglass Auditorium at University of Newcastle talk to Abacus StageTech