Robe at Arena Mytischi

 

A Robe moving light rig has been installed at the new Arena Mytischi near Moscow by Bossman Show Equipment, one of Robe’s official Russian distributors.

The arena covers a 16,000 square metre area and is located 15 km from the outskirts of Moscow. This new state-of-the-art 9,000 capacity sports facility offers 2 ice hockey fields, 6 buffet areas, a restaurant, bar, 6 banqueting halls and 26 VIP Lounges.

When there are no sporting events, the arena is used as a public skating facility. Concerts of all types are also staged there, making it the city’s foremost cultural and leisure hub.

The venue’s managers decided that buying their own in-house sound and lighting equipment was a more efficient and cost-effective route than renting it in each time they had a major concert, event or sports fixture.

Bossman’s Dmitry Prokhorov was asked to design the lighting scheme when the company was brought onboard as the project’s production sound and lighting consultants. They specified all the venue’s sound and lighting equipment and pre-programmed the Hog iPC lighting console.

Two 40 metre trusses are installed along either side of the main space, running along each side of the field of play.

Arena Mytischi has 28 metres of headroom, with each truss trimmed at 10 meters as the standard set up, but this is variable as the trusses are rigged on hoists. Each truss offers a mixture of Robe fixtures - 2 ColorWash 1200 ATs, 2 ColorSpot 1200 ATs, 10 ColorWash 575 ATs, 8 Robe Scan 1200 XTs and 2 Robe Fog 1500 FTs plus five 1800 W strobes per side. There are also two 4K architectural wash luminaires either side.

The design has allowed for full flexibility, so equipment can be de-rigged and re-rigged in different configurations as needed, depending on the requirements of the event.

Robe equipment was chosen as the best option for the operational and technical needs of the venue – the ice rink environment is a harsh one for any mechanical or electronic kit, so only the toughest fixtures were considered. They also needed really bright units to deal with the high trim height. Finally, Robe was also specified because it fitted the budget..

<cite>“Robe has many advantages, including reliability, an excellent price/quality ratio and good technical service and support”</cite> confirms Prokhorov.

Bossman has also used Robe equipment in several other installations, so its capabilities were well known. These include the Triumph Concert Hall in Lubertsy, Moscow region; the CSKA Moscow basketball arena, the International University Concert Hall, Moscow and the  State Musical Comedy Theatre in Krasnoyarsk.

The Arena Mytischi lights are primarily used to illuminate and project onto the ice before ice hockey matches and skating competitions, so the main functions utilized are gobo projections, beam shape effects, strobe, etc. The rig is also used to light concerts – on its own as well as combined with lighting production brought in by artists.

One of the first events taking advantage of the Robe installation was the Russian Figure Skating Championships, when they were utilized for the opening ceremony and for various show performances.

Current events taking place at Arena Mytischi include the World Hockey Championships – where it is hosting preliminary, qualifying and relegation rounds. The arena is also home to the Khimik ice hockey team from Voskresensk, so regular Russian National Championship games take place there.

A Robe lighting rig is also installed at the Cez Arena in Ostrava, one of the Czech Republic’s premier ice hockey venues.