Set on a massive 17,500sq.ft footprint covering three floors (with a combined capacity of 565 people), the multi-million pound venue combines top class pan-Asian and classic Italian cuisine, wrapped around theatre kitchens, with a basement Lounge Bar which metamorphoses into a nightclub. This is set against a background of super cool, customer profiled music - played through carefully selected sound reinforcement systems, which have been designed and installed by the Sound Division Group (SDG).
The interior was designed by Russian company Geometry Design Moscow in partnership with London-based project managers, Keir Townsend - who introduced Sound Division to work alongside Geometry's lead designer, Irina Glik, as well as Justin Peach at main contractors, The Beck Group.
Both the production lighting and sound have been designed and installed by Sound Division, who widened their scope to deliver a full top-spec dome camera CCTV and access control system, offering both internal and outdoor surveillance. With 8Track Music Solutions undertaking the customer profiling (and providing three hard drives for content delivery) the atmosphere is forever changing.
In equipping the 13 separate sound zones, David Graham's company has applied the same sense of individual identity, giving the loudspeakers a highly visible industrial look or making them discreet as required. Six JBL Control 67 Pendant speakers, suspended above the floating wooden slatted raft ceiling in the Asian restaurant, provide an invisible sound source as do the two in the adjacent bar and holding areas.
Meanwhile, the Italian restaurant features a Bose system, comprising eight DS40SE speakers (wall mounted in pairs on pillars, and also individually on the veranda ledge) plus a pair of Bose FreeSpace DS40F flush-mount ceiling speakers. The partitioned private dining areas - screened away to the right of the dining room - are served by 11 further flush-mount Bose DS16 ceiling speakers.
But it is down in the basement Lounge Bar that SDG have delivered their trademark nightclub style muscularity, providing a punchy NEXO sound system for the DJ, operating Wednesday through Saturday.
Four high powered Nexo PS10 speakers have been ceiling mounted in a quad shape to cover the hot spot lounge area around the main bar and over the small performance area in front of the DJ booth. Around the remaining three lounge areas to the rear and side, multiple pairs of PS8 speakers have been installed - and where low-frequency extension is required, seven floor-standing Nexo LS600 15" sub bass have been provided. Powering the entire system is a combination of Camco and Cloud amplifiers.
The front end includes two of the new Pioneer CDJ2000 CD players, a Pioneer DJM900 Nexus mixer, and a Traktor software control package for laptop DJs to use - all digitally connected via a Netgear network hub. For DJ monitoring, a pair of overhead Nexo PS8 speakers are configured in stereo while a 24 channel multicore and stage box running back to the DJ booth from the small performance area.
SDG have used a Soundweb London 12-in/8-out BLU-100 DSP to switch the presets from a front facing conventional PA, for when the venue hosts live music, to an all-immersive surround sound to envelop the audience when the DJ is playing high octane dance music. The network is completed by strategically placed BSS Soundweb remote BLU-3 and BLU-8 wall panels, offering local source select and volume control.
Overhead in this nightclub-style lounge, the mood and dynamics are constantly changing via the six Martin MAC 350 Entour LED Moving Head Profile Lights - also designed and installed by SDG. In a real tour de force, these are operated by industry standard Martin LightJockey software, and man
