Push The Button brings the Barbican Theatre’s auditorium lighting into the modern era, navigating the challenges of a Grade II listed landmark in the heart of the City of London.
The Barbican Centre is one of the most recognised examples of brutalist architecture in the United Kingdom. Part of the Barbican Estate in the City of London, the 1,156-seat theatre was designed by Chamberlin, Powell and Bon as the London home of the Royal Shakespeare Company, opening in June 1982. In 2001, it was awarded Grade II listed status, a designation that would add to the challenges faced by Push The Button (PTB) when they were appointed to upgrade the auditorium lighting in Spring 2026.
For a theatre auditorium, the Grade II listing meant that any changes to lighting must improve the performance and efficiency without altering the appearance of the existing fixtures. It was a demanding brief, and one that required careful planning.
Design and Development
Thankfully Alex Wardle, of Charcoalblue had been appointed to lead the consultancy and facilitate the design and development of the project within the constraints of the listed building. PTB were appointed to implement the lighting design for the auditorium lighting upgrades and develop the control design with it.
The scheme centred on replacing the existing fittings with custom-engineered replacements designed and manufactured by GDS Pioneering Light Limited in Bristol. To build on the design, PTB introduced a custom deep-reflector downlight for the under-circle levels, refining the effect delivered by the Fade To Warm downlights installed over the main body of the stalls. The final fittings were presented to the stakeholders for approval before manufacturing and installation began in earnest.
The Fittings
The auditorium walls are defined by distinctive circular brass wall lights, which previously housed crown silver lamps. GDS designed a bespoke LED retrofit with a custom metal envelope to precisely replicate the appearance of those lamps within the existing fittings. The high-level dustbin-style fixtures were demounted and retrofitted with new GDS Puppis 2K Fade To Warm downlights. The circle fronts were fitted with custom GDS Sculptor surface mount downlights, with further Sculptor fittings accommodating GDS Puppis 1KW lamps in the under-circle positions. Custom braketry was developed by PTB working alongside Charcoalblue to allow the fittings to be installed in locations they did not interfere with production lighting or sound rigging.
A notable feature of the Barbican Theatre auditorium is the row of discrete doors at the end of each seating row, which lead out into the circulation spaces. On the circulation side of these doors, classic 1980s-style rectangular steel and brass wall lights with a red inner face are mounted vertically on the pillars between the doors, downlighting the walls and columns of the space. All are controlled by the house lighting system, and PTB retrofitted each with GDS low-voltage IPM (Intelligent Power Management) lamps. This involved careful re-wiring of the existing circuits which consisted of cables in conduits buried in concrete. PTB were able to re-wire all of the circuits without needing to disturb the fabric of the building.
A Bespoke Solution for the Front Rows
The most technically demanding aspect of the project was providing adequate lighting to the front rows of the circle, upper circle, and gallery. All three levels sit beneath a sloped ceiling that prevents downlights from being directed at the front rows of seats. The legacy design had not addressed this, with downlights serving only the rear rows at each level and leaving the front rows without adequate reading light.
Alex Wardle worked in close partnership with GDS to develop a bespoke solution. A downlight fitted above the back row was equipped with an angled luminaire and a custom lens capable of producing a narrow beam angle of 1 to 60 degrees. These additional fittings were interspersed with the standard downlights on the back row, discreetly casting light onto the reading plane at the front of each level, giving patrons in these previously underlit seats a much clearer view of their programmes.
Power and Control
Power for the newly installed lamps is provided by GDS’s Drive Hub system, installed in the basement and connected to the existing legacy cabling to drive the circuits using GDS IPM (Integrated Power Management) technology. The one exception being the emergency lighting, where new circuits were installed in line with electrical requirements for segregated emergency lighting circuits. The use of GDS Integrated Power Management (IPM) technology enabled theatrical quality dimming of extra low voltage fittings within the constraints of the containment system designed in the 1970s.
Delivery
The installation was carried out over three months with the Theatre closed to the public. PTB were the principal contractor and provided all electrical and technical labour. One of the more unusual logistical challenges presented by the Barbican Theatre is that its facades are visible from the main foyer areas of the Barbican Centre across multiple levels. To avoid disrupting the experience for visitors to the centre, PTB installed a pipe-and-drape solution to black out the windows during the construction period. Particular care was taken to ensure that members of the Barbican Lounge could continue to use the space without interruption throughout the project.
The design was led by William Harris of PTB and project managed by Gareth Williams. Gareth reflected on the delivery: “This was an interesting challenge due to the location and requirements, but how smoothly the delivery went is proof of the value of all of the preplanning and the high standards that the team works to.”
“The project was about getting us away from tungsten lighting and into the modern era. We were struggling to get the bulbs to support the previous system and, of course, there was the sustainability question. We are very pleased with the job, everything went very well.”
— Steve Daly, Technical Manager – Barbican Theatre