Township Auditorium in Columbia, South Carolina, has been part of the city’s entertainment history since 1930. The historic venue was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005 and continues to host concerts, performances, and community events. This RETRO Series installation modernized the auditorium’s house lighting with a Canto USA LED retrofit to restore brighter architectural lighting while preserving much of the existing infrastructure.
Over time, the auditorium’s architectural lighting became noticeably dimmer. To improve the room’s appearance while reducing the maintenance and energy demands of older incandescent lamps, the venue worked with Productions Unlimited, Inc. on an LED retrofit. For product information and the RETRO Series product line updates referenced in this project, see Canto USA’s announcement about updates to the RETRO Series.
Bringing More Light Back Into the Auditorium
According to Ceili Hesselgrave, Senior Project Specialist for Productions Unlimited, the aging house lighting was starting to detract from the appearance of the historic room.
Township Auditorium hosts a variety of events throughout the year, and while their space is a beautiful and historic landmark for the city of Columbia, SC, the degree to which the architectural lighting system had degraded over the years was casting a dark shadow on an otherwise grand space. Upgrading their house lights has brought new life into their space!
Ceili Hesselgrave, Senior Project Specialist, Productions Unlimited
Productions Unlimited recommended the RETRO Series because the existing incandescent lamps could be replaced without requiring a completely new house-light system.
Matching the Lighting to a 100-Foot-Tall Space
One of the biggest challenges was the auditorium itself. Fixture heights vary dramatically throughout the room—from roughly 8 feet above the floor in some areas to nearly 100 feet at the highest points. A single optical configuration would not provide the right coverage everywhere.
After two site visits and testing with Productions Unlimited’s Canto USA demo kit, the team selected different stem heights and reflector combinations for each location.
The final configuration used 2¾-inch stems along with a combination of 15-degree and 70-degree reflectors. The different optics helped the installation team provide appropriate coverage at both the lowest and highest fixture positions.
Three Days to Install the RETRO-Fusion Fixtures
Productions Unlimited used two RETRO-Fusion models throughout the project:
- 112 RETRO-Fusion 700 fixtures
- 37 RETRO-Fusion 300 fixtures
That put 149 RETRO units into the venue, with the installation wrapped up in about three days.
One issue during installation was ensuring the mini-candelabra bases were fully seated in the older sockets. After some testing, the team determined that most units that initially failed to illuminate needed to be tightened further into the socket. A few additional problems were traced to damaged sockets in the existing fixture bodies.
Richland County project records independently confirm that the Township Auditorium lighting project called for Productions Unlimited to retrofit 149 existing can lights with LED lighting. Richland County SC
A Brighter Look Throughout the Historic Venue
Once the project was completed, the difference throughout the auditorium was immediately noticeable.
Hesselgrave said the venue’s management was excited to see the room’s architectural character become more visible again after years of declining light levels.
The wider coverage provided by the new RETRO fixtures also helped improve the overall atmosphere throughout the auditorium.
We are all very pleased with how Canto USA’s RETRO Series is performing in Township Auditorium. The atmosphere of the space has been greatly improved by having fixtures with a wider throw.
Ceili Hesselgrave, Senior Project Specialist, Productions Unlimited
The project allowed Township Auditorium to modernize its house lighting while continuing to use much of the existing infrastructure—a particularly useful approach for a historic venue where preserving the existing architecture was an important part of the job.
The original RETRO-Fusion models used for this project have since evolved into the current RETRO-Fusion® 2.0 line. Canto USA currently offers both 300 and 700 versions, with the Fusion 2.0 300 operating at a 30-watt load and the Fusion 2.0 700 at 72 watts, along with 0–100% phase dimming and multiple mounting options. For background on the RETRO-Fusion product series, see the RETRO-Fusion introduction post.
RETRO Series LED Retrofit Kits
Canto USA’s RETRO Series Fully Dimmable LED Retrofit Houselights
Canto USA is proud to present our RETRO Series. The RETRO-Fusion® 2.0 and RETRO-Passive® 2.0 are 0–100% phase dimmable (forward and reverse) variable wattage LED 2700K–6500K 80–97 CRI engines. They are designed for older SCR, TRIAC, and IGBT dimmer systems but are compatible with newer dimmer systems.
A direct replacement of existing lamps, our LED retrofit can be used in a wide range of applications or even new installations. Custom and standard mounting options are available.
