Las Vegas, by way of Southern California, was a central theme for the new Heat Ultra Lounge nightclub, located at the Anaheim Gardenwalk, adjacent to Disneyland and the convention center. The 13,000sq-ft. space features two distinctively different areas that can be combined to accommodate 850 guests and also serves as a special event venue. Its main room is a weekend nightclub while a smaller lounge offers slower beats for the weekday crowd.
The club opened on July 28 with a Martin Professional lighting package made up of 25 smartMAC™ profile spots, 30 Mania SCX700™ scanners, and 10 Atomic 3000™ strobes with one multi-headed Jem Hydra™ smoke system providing atmospheric haze. Lighting control is via one Martin Maxxyz PC™ and one Maxxyz Compact™ — the first Maxxyz Compact install in the US. There are also three OLE touch screens for each bar, two Strand A21 Dimming Racks, and 10 Martin Mania DC2™ decorative fire effects. Lighting supply and installation was completed by FBP of Las Vegas.
“All the design elements were geared around having a Vegas feel,” says Nikko Hendi, principal of NKDDI, a full service architectural design firm that designed the lighting and interior of the club. “Basically everything from concept development to the grand opening was created to be glamorous but also visually interesting.” Hendi notes that the design team paid special attention to the details necessary to make the space look polished during the day for corporate events while also providing the right amount of allure at night. “There are a lot of different areas to the club, and even in the same room, there are different design elements,” he says.
A few design details include wallpaper with a checkered metallic finish that picks up color and reflects it so the walls appear animated. In another look, white trees with freeze-dried bouquets of red roses come alive with color and pattern as the lighting is changed. Light projected from the scanners onto each of the venue's chandeliers brings them to life making them appear to be in motion. The chandeliers are dimmed to 5 to 10% and washed so that the entire chandelier becomes animated. “The chandeliers are used as a focal point,” Nikko explains. “There is not a single straight wall in the club, so you can't tell when you leave one space and enter another. It's all very fluid, but at any point in the club, you can see another chandelier, and the layout pulls you from space to space without you even knowing.” Nikko adds that the women's restroom features several mirrors, above which is a chandelier with the same effect on it, visible from inside the club area through a window.
The SmartMACs and Atomic 3000s set the scene for dancing above both the main room and lounge dance floors, while more SmartMACs are used in the hallway. At the bars, they serve dual purposes by washing and animating the bar tops and front bar area, as well as highlighting dancers. For atmospheric effect as well as mid-air canopy haze, a Jem Hydra smoke system is located over the main room dance floor. Also in use are the DC2 fire effects that emblazon a frosted glass ribbon above the wall that stretches around the club. More Manias illuminate a go-go booth behind the main bar that is visible from the entrance.
In the spirit of true collaboration, bartenders are given control of the lighting via touchscreens at every bar, and both the architectural and entertainment lighting are controlled through one console. “We tied the console to the dimming rack using the Maxxyz Compact,” Nikko explains. He says that FBP, who did the programming and integration, were in touch with Martin's Matthias Hinrichs about tying the rack and console together. “The whole idea was for the Maxxyz to tie into the touchscreens behind each bar so it can run the programs back and forth. Every bar has a touchscreen, and it works out well.”