The main hall of the Kursaal in Ostend will forever remain the place where Arno performed his final chord before more than 2,000 seated fans. Within this almost mythical setting, Ingenium is conducting a study for an ambitious reconversion. In the future, the client wants to turn it into a multipurpose hall where a seating stand of 1,480 people can be flexibly and easily transformed into a flat floor for at least 2,800 standing people. The level of the stage will be about 3 meters higher than today, giving the standing audience a view of the sea.
Ingenious technology
The premise of each operation is that as little human intervention as possible is needed to convert the auditorium. Besides some necessary human preparations to ensure safety, one push of a button will allow 144 electric motors under the stage and bleachers via 170 drives to raise and lower the elevators, as well as tilt (store and place) the seats. The various elevators ensure that the level difference between the rows - necessary for good sightlines with a seated audience - is bridged when converting to a flat auditorium. In that fully automatic movement, 1,392 seats on the grandstand are automatically stowed. This allows the hall to be programmed flexibly: a seated audience on Monday can be relieved on Tuesday by 2,800 standing people for a concert. A gala banquet, trade show or reception can take place on Wednesday, and so on.
Seamless integration
It goes without saying that ventilation has recently become a major concern due to the corona pandemic. An increase of 1,000 people - when converting from sitting to standing - obviously also means a huge adjustment to the air groups. Detailed studies are underway on how to make best use of the existing air groups in the new situation, supplementing them where necessary with new air groups to cover the shortfall. The fact that the interior is protected in many areas of the auditorium naturally creates an additional challenge. The extensive theatrical technical installations must be carefully planned to minimize the amount of demolition and relocation of existing technology. For the placement of 26 elevators in the auditorium and 6 elevators on the stage, we designed a complex 3D puzzle. This should ensure that unforeseen circumstances during execution are reduced to a minimum.
