Galleries and exhibitions · Castle Fine Art, Birmingham · Summer 2025

Castle Fine Art, Birmingham: an automated gallery for Billy Connolly’s art, designed without a site visit

Castle Fine Art wanted an interactive gallery for Billy Connolly’s artwork in which the technology is invisible: directional audio that only the viewer in front of a piece can hear, lighting that follows the time of day, digital storytelling and sensors that bring each exhibit to life. Lairds designed it remotely, to a fixed budget and a short deadline.

Client

Castle Fine Art

Site

Castle Fine Art gallery, Birmingham

Scope

Consultation, design and installation of control, directional audio, digital signage and lighting

Date

Summer 2025

The brief

Castle Fine Art set out three conditions. There would be no site survey, so the system had to be designed without access to the space. The deadline was short, with no room for error. The budget was fixed. Within that, the gallery had to enhance the viewer’s experience without overshadowing the art, use directional audio, dynamic lighting and automation to guide a visitor through, and keep a clean gallery aesthetic with the technology out of sight.

What we designed

Directional audio by SoundDirections creates a narrow sound field in front of each piece, so Billy Connolly’s voice is heard where it is meant to be and nowhere else. Lutron lighting lets the gallery tune the light to the time of day and to the work. BrightSign displays carry the storytelling, letting visitors follow his creative process. Faradite motion sensors trigger each exhibit as a visitor approaches, hands-free. RTI control ties the lighting, audio and displays together on a schedule, and lets the gallery change exhibits without reworking the system. Habitech supported the logistics and the equipment.

The gallery opened on time and on budget, designed from drawings and photographs rather than a site visit. See our design and consultancy service.

The design

Design visualisation of the Billy Connolly gallery at Castle Fine Art, Birmingham, from above

Visualisation of the gallery entrance and display wall at Castle Fine Art, Birmingham

Visualisation of the gallery layout with sculpture plinths, Castle Fine Art, Birmingham

Visualisation of the framed artwork wall in the Billy Connolly gallery, Birmingham

What we handed over

An interactive exhibition in which lighting, audio and displays respond to the visitor and run themselves on a schedule, with a control system the gallery can reconfigure when the art changes. Delivered without a site survey, on time and within budget.