On the 31st and 33rd floors of the spectacular Shard, the tallest building in Western Europe, David Yeo, founder of Aqua Restaurant Group, has opened two diverse restaurants - aqua shard (31st floor) and Hutong (33rd floor). Situated halfway up the building, they offer panoramic views over the London skyline.
Having earlier worked at Aqua London in Regent Street, David Graham's AV integration company was awarded the contract to provide sound reinforcement and control at the new venues - along with a full CCTV package. They have designed elaborate background music systems, with facility for a punchier system at the 31st floor atrium bar, while Soundweb London devices, located in the central comms room on the 31st floor, distribute feeds over an extended matrix, at the same time offering independent zonal control.
"The client wanted a high quality music system to provide multi zone sound, with separate source selection," said Graham. "The client brief was specifically that the speakers needed to blend in with the aesthetics, without obscuring any of the spectacular views over London. It was logical to use the established combination of JBL - a brand selected by the client himself - and BSS Soundweb, as we have many times in the past."
All JBL/BSS products were supplied by Sound Technology, the UK/Eire Harman Professional distributors.
(Jim Evans)
