NEWBERY HALL
Newbery Hall, showing screen and lectern.
Newbery Hall, viewed from podium, with socially distanced seating.
Newbery Hall, viewed from back of lecture theatre, with main fluorescent lights switched on.
Newbery Hall, with dimmed downlights switched on, as if for a lecture at which the data projector is used. This lighting is available during loadshedding power cuts.
In normal circumstances this lecture theatre accommodates 90 persons comfortably. The dimensions are approximately 8 metres by 14 metres, i.e. the floor area is about 117 square metres. The room is air-conditioned.
During the Covid-19 pandemic we were restricted to 45 seats, in order to respect 2-metre social distancing norms. The situation has now reverted to normal (as of January 2023).
The lecture theatre is equipped with a Hitachi CPX2510 data projector, which will display on a large screen images or videos from a laptop computer placed on the lectern. A VGA connection is provided for this, on the lectern.
A Samsung DVD player is built into the lectern.
There is a public address system, based on a 60-Watt DSPPA MP-7806 amplifier, with two Gemini UHF-216 wireless microphones, one hand-held and the other head-mounted. Both microphones can be used simultaneously, which is practical when the chairman of a meeting wishes to introduce a speaker, or to make comments or handle questions from the floor.
It is possible to use a conventional (cabled) lapel-mounted microphone instead of the head-mounted wireless microphone if the speaker prefers. Wearers of jewellery may find the cabled lapel microphone more comfortable to use than a head-mounted wireless microphone.
The lighting is based on 18 banks of triple fluorescent tubes, which can be switched from near the lectern so that there is illumination from 18, 36 or 54 tubes. There are also dimmable downlights (GU-10 LEDs) in the ceiling.
There are racks for the display of artwork, notices, etc., along the sides of the hall, and separate sideways-pointing mercury-arc lighting is provided for these.
Backup power during load-shedding
Backup electrical power is available from a 5 kWh battery pack and a 3 kW inverter, so that the Newbery Hall lecture theatre can be used during load-shedding without any particular problems. All the audiovisual equipment is supported, as are the LED downlights in the ceiling.
(The fluorescent lights and arc lights, and the air-conditioning, all of which draw a heavy current, cannot be used in battery backup mode.)
Schedule of availability
To view the schedule of availability in 2023 please click here.
The Newbery Hall is named after Professor Edgar Newbery (1883-1969), who was professor of physical chemistry at the University of Cape Town between 1920 and 1950.