As the building was not yet complete when Diroco was contracted, they used Martin's ShowDesigner lighting design software package to create the lighting solution. It was, among other things, the ShowDesigner that convinced the client that the new look would be visually striking. And because it was important to keep white light over the tables so that faces and food look their natural best, Diroco took the opportunity to convince the client of the flexibility of intelligent lighting.
For one of the restaurants, the Åbar, whose original curved brick walls are the architectural focus of the room, Diroco incorporated surface-mounted Alien 05 Stem Mount colour changers working together with a small pattern projector. The colour changes from the Aliens, slow and warm, work with the design projections to create a stimulating environment of changing atmospheres.
The largest of Market Hall's restaurants is a multi-purpose space - brunch-bar, lunch-restaurant, evening-restaurant, bar and nightclub. Therefore, it was important for the lighting to set the various moods throughout the day. Due to a high, open ceiling, the lighting fixtures were positioned in a large truss. Alien 02 full spectrum colour changers illuminate the ceiling in warm colours by day, with more daring combinations from Martin MAC 250 Kryptons, Wizard effect lights and Atomic strobes taking over for the evening nightclub.
In order to integrate conventional fixtures with the Martin lights, Diroco chose to work with a dimmer system that reads and controls DMX with regular wall panels so the staff can easily control the intensity of both the conventional and Martin lights. At night, however the DJ switches to DJ-mode, which enables the Martin Xciter to take control of the Martin lights, although the staff can still control the conventional lighting. This made it possible to easily switch from daylight to evening light to disco light. All four restaurants operate via the same dimmer and can therefore be easily controlled by small, legible controllers on the wall. Additionally, because of the previous fire, the dimmer system is connected to the fire alarm and in case of an emergency all Martin lights go to white.
Lighting design for the venues was by Marcus Persson and Lina Denne of Diroco with Persson also handling the technical design and programming. Installation was also carried out by Diroco personnel.
(Lee Baldock)
