Leading Czech professional lighting and sound sales company AudioMaster lost no time in installing Anolis LED products into its new HQ in Prague - both to enhance the functionality and aesthetics of the building and to demonstrate in situ, the benefits of the brand to their clients.
Music City is a funky, new purpose built 4 storey building, a collaboration between AudioMaster and the Prague Music Centre. The concept is to deliver the ultimate retail environment for musicians, performers, installers, technical specifiers, venue owners and managers and anyone involved in the professional entertainment and leisure industry.
Encompassing recording and demo studios, training plus conference and presentation areas, the trendy Music Cafe coffee bar and specialist display areas for guitarists, drummers, keyboard and percussion aficionados of all types, Music City also features all the latest MI, DJ, sound, lighting and AV technology - all under one roof.
Being a bustling meeting place and melting pot for creative people, imaginative and interesting lighting was an essential to the whole ethos of the building.
Also keen to embrace environmental issues, Anolis was an obvious choice. Apart from the fact that it looks good and is one of the best engineered products available, AudioMaster particularly wanted a Czech brand. The choice of fixtures was chosen in consultation with Rostislav Haba from Robe's R 'n' D department, and phase 1 of the architectural lighting installation has now been completed.
The whole exterior of the building curves around in line with the road along one side, featuring a 35 metre long second floor overhang that creates a passageway running along the pavement. The roof of this is up-lit with 16 ArcSource Outdoor 12, 36 fixtures, manufactured from rugged 316 stainless steel with an IP68 rating. These are mounted flush with the pavement and wash along the ceiling of the passageway.
The second floor Music Cafe is a lively environment for anyone visiting the Music Centre, and is frequently a social gathering point for musicians and other artists and technicians visiting the Centre, as well as those attending conferences, music seminars and demonstrations.
As with the rest of the building, it has been designed to maximise the natural lighting streaming in from the windows. The contemporary neutral ambience is enhanced with the installation of LED into a decorative central column clad in semi-translucent PVC material.
This is achieved using 4 Anolis ArcLine 36 strips, set on a slow colour chase that shifts the colour of the room as it cycles round, getting brighter and more prominent as the outside light levels fall, but also looking equally as energising during daylight.
The glass lift is also illuminated with 6 Anolis ArcSource 3s, down-lighting from the ceiling. "Pretty much everyone uses the lift when they are in the building," explains AudioMaster's marketing manager Tobias Shenke, "So having good lighting in there is a must - the whole idea was to lift the space - so it was light and pleasant - not a dark dingy enclosed hole - like so many elevators!"
The next phase of the Anolis installation at the Music Centre will involve lighting the Conference Room, and the Music Hall, a space used for conferences, demos, presentations and live performances. They are planning to use ArcWash 236 moving heads - with 36 high powered K2 LEDs for lighting the stage.
The Music Hall stage is currently lit with Robe ColorSpot and ColorWash 250E AT moving heads around the stage, controlled by a Robe DMX 1024 controller.
AudioMaster first started working with Robe and Anolis products 3 years ago - via Robe's Czech and Slovakian distributor KVS, "It was a very convenient package that one manufacturer can deliver lighting for shows and events and also all types of architectural applications," stated Shenke, "We were impressed by their commitment to green policies and the innovative use of new technologies as they become available." He adds that the service and backup from KVS has been excellent and consistent right from the start.
One of the recent events hosted by AudioMaster at Music City was the Czech edition of Robe's "The Future Is Digital" Roadshow. There is a constant flow of training sessions and other activities like drum and guitar schools and DJ battles taking place at The Music Centre. "It is really the perfect showcase for professional products - they will be seen in action by a wide variety of people engaged in all areas of the music and production industry," concludes Shenke.