The italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani, opened his new worlwide headquarters at Via Bergognone 59 in Milan, in Autumn 2001.

[...] Japanese architect Tadao Anto who, like Armani, is famous for his appreciation of semplicity and purity in his design, was commissioned to transform the space into an ethereal fusion of concrete, water and light. Central to the 12.000 sqm building, a former Nestlé factory, is the 3.400 sqm Armani Teatro.

Designed to be a flexible, multifunction space, the theatre is planned to cater for a variety of events, including fashion shows for both Emporio Armani and Giorgio Armani collection. [...]

The technical systems of the new Armani Teatro were designed around a simple principle : to allow the space to be adapted for a myriad of different events. It was to include a powerful set of tools for lighting control that can grow as the industry develops, without interfering with the achitecture, keeping up to date with current needs of the user and accomodating those not yet imagined.

Achieving these ideal has been the goal of the technical design team, CPA with american free lance lighting designer AJ Weissebard who was brought in as project designer, in charge of technical system design. [...]

Rome based lighting company Ianiro supplied the majority of the lighting, dimming, control and network for the building, working closely with ETC. Ianiro’s project Manager Massimo Cecchini, who oversaw the installation as well as training the theatre’s technicians in the two-year said : “Armani Teatro was an inspiring project to work on – and we are well delighted with the result”.

Some of the lighting materials installed :
150 ETC Source Fours standard , 40 Source Four Zoom, 150 Source Four PARNels and 20 Source Four PAR. More than 300x 3 kw and 100 x 5kw output dimmer.
Dimmer rack with output information on power, ambient temperature and configuration to the console operator to aid in diagnosing any potential problem.
Control through Expression 3, ETC ethernet system. Included also Morpheus colour faders. High End System X-SPOT were specified for the inaugural fashion day.

"Extracts from magazine MONDO sept/oct 2002"