A new nightclub, Dream, recently opened in northeast Washington DC. Two warehouses originally built in the 1910s were completely renovated and joined into one building to create the 7,500-capacity club, which features five dance floors, lounges, and VIP rooms, plus a huge outdoor deck area on the roof that is open year-round. Owner Marc Barnes originally hired another contractor but felt the venue was under-specified. He turned to Washington Entertainment Technologies to install the requisite amount of power and lighting.
The various spaces in the club have been fitted out with combinations of Coemar iSpot 150s, Coemar Digiscans, Color Kinetics iColor MR fixtures, Clay Paky Stage Light 300s, and Diversitronics strobes. Control is provided by Color Kinetics iPlayer2 playback units, NSI MLC-128 controllers, a Diversitronics Strobe Runner, a Martin LightJockey, and Creston control systems with 6" wireless touch screens.
Dream also features one Antari ICE heavy fog machine and two Antari Z-300 Fazers. (The installers had also hoped to implement some external color-washing using Coemar Panorama Cycs, but laws prevent anything that might detract from the historical nature of the architecture.) All the lighting at Dream was programmed by Washington Entertainment Technologies' Chris Herr, using the walls and ceilings as theatrical elements.
Washington Entertainment Technologies' contract at Dream is not only its largest yet but has marked the start of a successful relationship with Barnes. The former club promoter opened Republic Gardens in DC a few years ago, and Washington Entertainment Technologies is currently in the process of renovating Republic Gardens while remaining on-site at Dream, as the second floor of the club remains a work in progress.