The biggest addition to Clent Parish Hall was designed to disappear. Its new projection screen retracts above the stage’s front curtain track when it isn’t needed, leaving the hall looking reassuringly like a hall.
Opened in 1906, the recently redecorated building has a traditional character that needed respecting. The committee wanted a multipurpose system for visiting speakers and the interest groups that meet there, with the flexibility to offer cinema nights too.
Our job was to deliver a large, clear picture without making the technology the main attraction every other day of the week.
Working closely with the committee, we advised on blinds for the windows at the rear of the stage. Controlling that light made a discreet rear-projection solution practical for daytime use as well as evening events.
Once the blinds were installed, we fitted a bright Epson short-throw laser projector behind masking curtains at the back of the stage. It projects onto a motorised Sapphire rear-projection screen with an approximately 2.7-metre-wide picture. When not in use, the screen disappears above the curtain track.
