The dancefloor lighting scheme - devised by Coe-tech’s design team headed by Nathan Wan - was crucial to the venue’s visual identity. The walls and columns are painted a pastel blue, complete with stencilled bubbles - and are ideal for gobos and projection effects. The lighting brief was to produce a liquid and flowing feel for the room, and low ceiling height also played a role in the choice of fixtures.
Wan chose 24 Coemar I-Spot 150s (which were launched at PLASA 2001), one of the Italian manufacturer’s new stable of small moving heads. The i-Spots are specifically designed for low maintenance situations like Aqua, where no full-time lighting tech is based on site. Wan also used 12 Coemar Pro Wash LX fixtures, another bright but small luminaire. 10 Futurelight CC200 colour-changing fixtures are used, as well as six Futurelight DF250 multi-colour ‘flower’ effects. Coe-tech also supplied a selection of special effects including two 1500W TAS Saetta strobes and three 16" mirror balls. Other effects include Apollo UV guns, Coemar Versatile effects fixtures and two Nebbia DMX foggers. All lighting fixtures are powder-coated the same Aqua blue.
Dancefloor area lighting is controlled by a Pulsar Masterpiece 216 desk, with dimming from Anytronics. For the VIP/Piano Bar area, Coe-tech supplied 12 AVR Colourmaster colour-changing fixtures and a controller.
Coe-tech supplied two separate sound systems - one for the dancefloor and one for the Piano Bar. Both systems utilise Dare Pro Audio loudspeakers and were designed by Paul Dunkley from Deco Leisure. Noise pollution was a serious issue, as Aqua is in the basement of a building which houses shops on the ground floor and flats immediately above. Dunkley’s design used multiple speakers to disperse the sound, but also to supply enough kick to the dancefloor. Both objectives are achieved by the careful positioning of eight Dare Micro 101 active speakers around the dancefloor, flown from Euro Vib acoustic spring mounts to absorb vibrations. The eight DR18 subs are built into concrete block housings, positioned at floor level and mounted on Euro Vib rubber mounts. When cranked up, the area is filled with plenty of energy, sonic atmosphere and excitement.
Pointing outwards from the dancefloor, to cover the two main bar areas, are six Dare Micro 101 passive enclosures, rigged in the ceiling on Euro Vib springs. As with the lighting fixtures, Coe-tech had all speakers custom coloured to the cool Aqua blue of the room. The Piano Bar contains eight Dare Micro 88s - a small speaker, neatly recessed in the ceiling cornices and corners of the room. The Piano Bar has its own Powerstation 600 8-channel mixing desk for control, and a selection of Shure mics. Amplifiers throughout the building are QSC. XTA DP200 processors are used for EQ, crossover and compression.
The biggest physical element of the DJ booth - apart from the booth itself - is the Dare Micro 101 monitor speakers. A Denon DN-1800F twin CD deck and Technics SL1210 turntables are the core source devices, controlled via an Allen & Heath Xone 62 DJ mixer. A Cloud ZA4 zoner switches the sound between four separate areas - dancefloor, peripheral, VIP and the toilets. Coe-tech also lit Aqua’s exterior front wall - with four blue wash lights and two Studio Due City Colors. A Studio Due Space Flower is rigged on the roof to attract attention.
The sound and lighting installation was co-ordinated for Coe-tech by Tony Day, working as senior project manager with the DIVAS team to ensure the tight fit-up deadlines were met in time for the opening.
Lee Darcy is deligh
