A Stirling Job: The Royal Institute of British Architects – Stirling Prize Awards 2022

On October 13^th, Red Occasions partnered with the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) to assist with their prestigious annual Stirling Prize ceremony. We had the pleasure of assisting with the audio-visual provisions across the multiple spaces in the venue, as well as supporting the international TV broadcast and live stream.

A global membership body, the RIBA drives excellence in architecture. They aim to deliver better buildings, stronger communities and a sustainable environment. Every year they hold the Stirling Prize award show. Named after architect James Stirling, the Stirling Prize is awarded to the architect whose building has made the greatest contribution to the evolution of architecture for the year.

The venue was RIBA’s headquarters in London; 66 Portland Place. This versatile space offers breathtaking views of Central London and sits in the prestigious neighbourhood of Marylebone. As you’d expect, this Art Deco building is impressive, to say the least. The venue’s natural charm was evident from our very first visit. We knew we could deliver something that would beautifully complement the existing spaces. This venue certainly didn’t need a complete overhaul. It just needed to have its stunning architecture highlighted, as well as clear, crisp sound and a faultless live stream broadcast.

Do you have an award show or a different event coming up? Red Occasions can provide audio visual equipment in Cambridge, Northampton, Bedford, Milton Keynes and beyond. We’d love to work with you on your next event and we have vast experience supplying AV for award shows, festivals, conferences, private parties and much more.

The event specifics

Who: The Royal Institute of British Architects

What: The Stirling Prize Awards

Where: British Architectural Library, 66 Portland Place, London W1B 1AD

When: 13^th October 2022

Why: The Stirling Prize is the most prestigious prize awarded in British Architecture. Winners are chosen annually at a ceremony hosted by the RIBA. This year we were bought in to support RIBA with the audio-visual provision for multiple spaces across the event, including assisting with the international TV broadcast and live stream.

Raising the Roof

We love working on award shows. There’s something so satisfying about creating that buzz and anticipation from the minute the attendees arrive. We appreciate just how important the awards are to the nominees; receiving recognition for their hard work in a room full of peers. It’s crucial that they run smoothly. Here at Red Occasions, we know how to create the right amount of allure and drama to inspire the audience.

Leading light

Lighting has a significant impact on an award show. It helps to influence the mood, atmosphere and keep the audience’s attention focused.

We have a wealth of experience in lighting award shows. We know that it needs the right mix of ambient lighting to keep attendees comfortable, exciting and engaging lighting to drum up anticipation, lighting to provide cues and illumination that adds visual interest.

To facilitate the presentation of the awards, we created a centrepiece in the main plenary space with a 28-foot by 10-foot full-colour wrapped set solution. This was accented by Phillips Showline eStrip LED Batten lights. At the front, we placed a 5-metre by 2-metre stage where all eyes would be focused.

We then used lighting to emphasise the key aspects of the space, using Prolights SmartbatPLUS LED battery uplighters to draw your eye to the intricate pillars flanking the room. Accentuating the beautiful architecture was a no-brainer for this event! We also cast light on the vast, vaulted ceiling to beautifully decorate the space. We used Clay Paky Axcor Spot 300’s to achieve this stunning glow.

If you’re looking for lighting hire in Bedford and beyond, Red Occasions can assist. Give us a call to discuss your requirements.

Sounds like a winner

The client outlined during the site visit how they had, “never had a good sound in the main space.” Challenge accepted! Our team were particularly keen to get the sound right from the beginning. And we were confident that we could do just that.

We deployed an audio system comprising of L’Acoustics speakers, Yamaha digital consoles, DPA microphones, Sennheiser wireless systems and brand-new MacBook Pro (M1)’s for audio playback via QLab. With this impressive range of kit, we were able to deliver the high-quality audio that the client had always dreamed of for their space. Until the Red Occasions magic touch, having crisp, clear sound had been unprecedented and considered impossible by the client!

In addition to the venue’s stunning architectural features, it also boasted a wealth of pre-installed screens around the event spaces. We worked with the internal IT team to create a network between rooms. We transmitted video with NDI from a central control space using a video system based around our high-specification production computer rack (i9 / RTX4000 / 64GB RAM) running vMix. This allowed a smooth and sleek international live stream.

It was our pleasure to work at the esteemed Stirling Awards and to help bring the event to life with stunning sound, beautiful lighting and a smooth live stream. We’d like to extend our thanks to RIBA for choosing to work with us and the 2022 winner; The New Library, Magdalene College by Niall McLaughlin Architects. Congratulations guys!

If you need help with the audio-visual set-up of your award show, give Red Occasions a call. We offer audio visual equipment in Cambridge and the surrounding regions. We can also provide staging, audio, video and lighting hire in Bedford and nearby areas like Northampton and Milton Keynes. Contact us today to discuss the AV at your next event.