J&C Joel at the Roundhouse

J&C Joel has manufactured and installed several curtain and tracking systems in the newly refurbished Roundhouse performing arts venue in London’s Camden Town.

J&C Joel was brought onboard by John MacKinnon, technical manager of the Roundhouse, and the project focused on a custom-made track and drape system that would withstand the rigors of touring productions while being mindful of the general Roundhouse decor. The installation was coordinated by contracts director Mark Taylor and carried out by J&C Joel’s in-house installation team over a two-week period.

Three separate track positions were created, with track one extending the inner radius of the main room, running approximately 260’ with a 42’ radius. It is Triple-E Unirail and is fixed to the 48 small diameter spreader bars that radiate out from the main Victorian structural metalwork. Twenty-five black wool drapes were supplied to hang on these tracks. Each drape is nearly 10’ wide with 50% fullness and an almost 25’ drop. The tops of the drapes have golf bag hooks and there’s spot Velcro on the sides to join them together. The drapes are made from J&C Joel’s heavier wool chosen for its fantastic acoustic properties.

Track position two runs in line with the balcony handrail and track three follows the radius of the outer wall. A completely separate track system was supplied for each, although track two is linked with track three. The total linear length measures 853’. This is again constructed from Triple-E Unirail and attached to the small diameter spreader bars radiating out from the Victorian metalwork. Where track two becomes track three around the perimeter wall, the spacing of the spreader bars is much greater, so additional steelwork was added to spread the load.

For the balcony and wall tracks, 35 black wool drapes were installed to track two, each measuring almost 10’ wide with 50% fullness and a 13’ drop, manufactured to the same specification as track one’s drapes.

In the separate TV studio, J&C Joel installed two 65' parallel Triple-E Unirail tracks, specially shaped to follow the curves, contours, and angles of the walls. They are filled with a black wool drape 65' wide x 8’ drop and 50% fullness. The heavier grade wool was again used in this area for superior acoustics. For the same studio track, J&C Joel made a 33’ x 8’ drop cloth, without fullness.

Various sections of Triple-E Unitrack were also created specifically as “portable” and can be deployed in different areas when required.