After being closed for nearly a year, the 1250-capacity venue has been transformed by a dramatic 3D ceiling starburst using 120 of SGM's LT-100 LED pixel tubes, run from a proprietary media server. These have been rendered and pixel-mapped so that the lighting chase sequences can one minute resemble a spectrum analyser, before sending waves shimmering through the 1-metre long rods, which make up the inspired architectural chandelier - all the while offering a 2 x 170° viewing experience.
Right from the outset, Luminar CEO Peter Marks knew the venue was in need of reinvention, and brought in Design at Source to transform it. At the same time he promised, "Moka will have a state-of-the-art lighting rig supplying the wow factor and will be one of the first places in the country to have it. The full LED lighting directly over the dancefloor will look fantastic. It is a brilliant set up."
Experienced lighting technician Paul Manser says the CEO was as good as his word. "I absolutely love it and so do our customers. I have used LED systems before but not in this format; anything that I have used hasn't provided any kind of pattern definition. This really expands my creativity."
His views are echoed by general manager, Adam Foxley. "The lighting is fantastic; we are using it very much as a special effect and I am sure it's one reason that the club has been running at capacity."
The installation was carried out by Technical Arts Ltd., whose operations director, Andy Pound, added that six of SGM's powerful and feature-rich Idea Beam 300 automated heads, running from ShowCAD, accentuate the rig. All the SGM fixtures were supplied by UK distributors, LED Projects.
As for the LT-100, the LJ does little more than 'tickle' SGM's imaginative centrepiece during the early part of the evening, when the tips are merely flickering. But this builds once the dancefloor is buzzing into more graphic effects, mostly operated manually.
At the end of the evening he uses the LT-100 as a 'traffic light' type evacuation device, crossfading bright slabs of colour, before ending with a complete 'white out'. "Customers are now getting used to it - and it really helps the crowds disperse quickly."
(Jim Evans)
