From salt production to stage implementation.

It's not from today that there are many wastelands standing in the world, just begging to be given a new life. This time we're going to look beyond the great waters, because in Chicago a salt factory that has been operating for more than 100 years has been rearranged into a venue for live events.

Chicago's Morton Salt complex operated for nearly a century before it closed in 2015. Today, the complex has been transformed into a multi-purpose venue with live music and other events called The Salt Shed. Offering state-of-the-art sound and lighting systems, including comprehensive Elation brand stage lighting provided by Upstaging. The Salt Shed is quickly becoming a popular new concert space in Chicago.

The facility stretches over 1.5 acres of land along the banks of the Chicago River and can accommodate about 3,300 people indoors and 5,000 in the open space, which opened in the summer of 2022.

The newly renovated indoor space was previously a salt warehouse. Today it boasts a stage and a state-of-the-art stage lighting system that includes Elation Artiste Monet ™, Proteus Lucius ™ , Proteus Rayzor 760 ™ , Fuze MAX ™, Fuze Par Z60 IP ™ , Protron 3K Color ™ and DTW Blinder 700 IP, among others.

Project

Steve Wojda (an unusually Polish-sounding name, isn't it?) and Mike Creager of Upstaging were responsible for the lighting design of the space, working on the project from 2021. In Wojda's words.

We did almost everything from a lighting standpoint - interior theater lighting and interior beam lighting, but we also illuminated the outdoor space and the riverside area with outdoor fixtures. It's a very interesting space and we wanted to accentuate the architecture and the fact that the space has a unique historical value for the city.

Interestingly, the main idea of restructuring the building was also to preserve its authenticity. Because it is an iconic building for Chicagoans and so, for example, when driving along the Kennedy Freeway, we can continue to admire the "Morton Salt" logo.

Lighting

The lighting set consists of seven parallel trusses. On a stage about 16m wide and 10m deep, there are four 46-inch trusses at heights ranging from 3 to 7.5m with an additional three trusses suspended in front of the FOH. Since the Salt Shed is a long, narrow building, some lighting points are up to 30m from the stage. On the 20m FOH truss farthest from the stage and working in conjunction with the followpot system, there are four 45,000 lumens Artiste Monet™ moving LED heads.

There are 12 Fuze MAX Profile™ moving heads and 12 Fuze MAX Spot™ LEDs on all four trusses. The Fuze MAX fixtures are full-spectrum moving LED heads with an RGBMA (92 CRI) LED engine and 21,000 lumens of output that rivals 1000W/1200W class discharge fixtures. They make up the bulk of the overhead lighting system and work with 10 Proteus Rayzor 760 ™ LED effect fixtures with IP65 protection. The middle cluster was supplemented with an IP65 Fuze Par Z60 IP ™ PAR with zoom. In addition, effect devices such as 8 Protron 3K Color™ LED strobe lights with four IP65-rated DTW Blinder 700 IP™ were installed as audience lighting.

It is also worth mentioning that the said selected luminaires are IP65 waterproof. This is important because in front of the complex itself there is a space for outdoor events with a capacity of 5,000 thousand seats. As the users of the system themselves say. This is crucial, as they can move the fixtures from indoors to outdoors during the summer period without worry.

Maybe the amount of equipment and the fact that they are one brand is not conducive to our Polish standards, but a few things we can learn from the example. First, let's create investment projects with a head and think about their real use. Another is let's not be afraid of universal devices - Iggy Pop, Flaming Lips and The Roots, among others, played on the mentioned set. The bands generally supplemented the set with their floor light, but everything else was played on the current equipment.