Disguising a very large sports hall

[jenniem]

Hi,

 

Not sure if this is the correct forum, but I need some suggestions. I have been asked to put on an award ceremony in a very large sports hall (35m x 35m) with a 10m high ceiling. The main requirement is that we lower the ceiling and cover all of the walls, but as usual the budget is very limited. Everything we've looked at so far is way over budget so I'm wondering if anyone else has done this before and what was successful. I'm open to other suggestions as to how to disguise the sports hall look too..

 

many thanks

 

jen

[Dave SA]

Change the venue is by far the best solution surely?

[kerry davies]

Parachutes, marquee linings, blah, blah, blah.

 

None of it matters because you haven't told us the budgetary restraints or what you have ruled out.

 

Of course people have done this before, but if you have no budget you have no choices, simples.

[crazyshaun]

Iv'e helped on gigs where sports halls where used, , to lower the ceiling we have in the past run 10mm steel cables from left to right side and simply laid camouflage netting over them, securing across the cables then for extra covering parachutes or old stage curtains, main problem you might have is with a lowed ceiling you need to think about new room lights as you would be covering them, if your in a sports hall and have permission you might want to use (if they have them) the netting from internal bat netting often used for cricket practise.

big question's are:-

 

1. do you have to cover the full size of the room

2. why do you need to lower the ceiling

3. is this a permanent change for the building

4. would a covered stage be better

5 main question is what money is available

[Jivemaster]

On a fantasy budget I'd get S&H rigging (starcloth.c_ _) to put starcloth round the walls and pealight canopy over the roof. Also a star light logo of the host company/team. This would also possibly tame the "Sports Hall" acoustic which is usually dreadful for stage performance/band/speech! Otherwise it's a completely uninteligible noise in the gymn.

[TomWeston]

I like to use softscene around the edges of sports halls ( poll and drape system ) and usually chain hoist truss down the centre of the sports hall ( from stage to the back of the hall ) and keep the truss at a flown height of about 3 metres more than the drapes, then for a lowered ceiling affect I use whatever colour casement the client chooses or goes with the colour scheme of the event to drape from truss in the centre soft scene on the outside of the room.

 

this may not be an option in your case but it is what I have done in the past, I hope this helps.

[bobalobus]

Hey

 

We do a few events a year in sports halls around this size, one with a big budget were a lot of truss is used to make a grid and blacks hung form it, This also requires the structure to be able to take the load. We also do a few on much smaller budgets were we have to take other steps to change the room

 

In this case which I'm guessing meets the same requirements as your job, we used the lighting and stage to are advantage

 

The main thing is to keep all attention and focus on the stage, we hang a black star cloth behind the stage and slanted cloths to the side to create a very focused look, all lighting is kept within the stage area so the ceiling and walls are hardly lit

 

For house lighting we use pars at around 5m, so that light is not spilt to ceiling and walls and use quite a thin beam, this means that though the walls and ceiling are still a sports hall they have very little light spill on them and with the very defined stage you can almost forget your in a sports hall.

 

hope this helps

 

bob

[Junior8]

That's a very nice idea and at least Sports halls are one building in which you can get a decent blackout. I'd only add the suggestion that you also 'dress the entrance' with some blacks so that as they enter the special lighting they feel they are entering a special place. I like the idea of the Star Cloth but carrying a canopy as far forward as possible over the stage would also help I think. This won't do anything for the awful acoustics though! But carpeting the floor might... If you had any budget for anything hired in other than stage and lighting that's where I'd spend it

[Ynot]

As has already been said, the ceiling is going to be the problem.

Walls shouldn't be a big issue - if you can't hang truss from with to hang drapes/star cloths, look at this type of 'push-up' ground supports - Hawthorn have them, but other suppliers do also (including my local guy, CSR Hire).

 

And if your budget IS really tight then you'll struggle with any of this...

[Brian]

As has already been said, the ceiling is going to be the problem.

Only if you really need to hide it. If you don't light in it the first place you may get away with not having to drape it.

[Tom Baldwin]

I had to do this a while ago; like you I didn't have the budget for a full trussing system to suspend starcloth or other drapes across the room to lower the ceiling.

We used large numbers of helium balloons attached to fishing line catenaries which spanned the room. I don't have access to the details right now, but from memory I think we used 1000 balloons for a 25mx15m room. It worked well, but 2000 balloons would have been better.

We then cross lit the balloons from floor stands making the false ceiling much brighter than the real ceiling.

I'll try to dig out photos (I'm sure I have a couple)

 

The show I did was a charity fundraiser; we had a team of about 10 volunteers from the charity inflating and attaching the balloons. If you're paying for labour you may find this approach a non-starter.

[jenniem]

Thanks for all of these replies - much appreciated. I think that the plan will be to try to draw attention away from the ceiling by using lighting and the stage as a focal point. If anyone has any photos of similar events they have done - I'd really appreciate seeing them.

 

I've also discovered 'stretchy material' that can apparently be used to make shapes and be hung across the ceiling - has anyone had any experience of this and is it all that it is said to be?

[Brian]

If anyone has any photos of similar events they have done - I'd really appreciate seeing them.

A slightly bigger scale than yours (120 tables of 10 people each)...

 

 

The walls were draped in a mixture of blacks and starclothes. The tables were all spot lit from directly(ish) above with source 4 pars. The only thing that's lighting up the room in the photo is the pyro I've just fired. With nothing happening the roof was completely lost.

[Seano]

I've also discovered 'stretchy material' that can apparently be used to make shapes and be hung across the ceiling - has anyone had any experience of this and is it all that it is said to be?

"Tensile sculpture" is a good search term to use to find examples of that on t'internet. I imagine you'd have to cover a large area to disguise the space, just the odd one would more likely draw attention to the sports hall roof rather than distract from it. (Merely by encouraging the punters to look up!) Then again, I'm no designer, so what do I know? <_<

 

They're quite probably incompatible with the "very limited budget" you mentioned in your op though, depending on the precise meaning of "limited" in your case..

 

A slightly bigger scale than yours (120 tables of 10 people each)...

Nice.

Manchester Central (aka GMex)?

That place has a *beautiful* roof - its a shame the (unfortunately very necessary but also very ugly) truss mothergrid gets in the way of the view.

 

There's a nice temporary installation in the sports hall at Pond's Forge in Sheffield at the mo. Not a million miles away from Jivemasters 'fantasy budget' option - the ceiling has been dramatically lowered with a white starcloth canopy. (Its in for this - but unfortunately the photo there is from a previous event without the canopy.) I might get a chance to take a few sneaky snapshots of it in a few days time.

[Wilflet]

There's a nice temporary installation in the sports hall at Pond's Forge in Sheffield at the mo. Not a million miles away from Jivemasters 'fantasy budget' option - the ceiling has been dramatically lowered with a white starcloth canopy. (Its in for this - but unfortunately the photo there is from a previous event without the canopy.) I might get a chance to take a few sneaky snapshots of it in a few days time.

 

Seconded, it really changes the place.