Nobu Hotel, Portman Square – London

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Nobu Hotel Portman Square

Technical Arts were chosen by L+R as consultants to oversee the audio and video design and implementation for the entire hotel, ensuring that the finished result met Nobu’s impeccable standards.

Nobu Hotel, Function Space complete with 10m HD video wall.

In conjunction with renowned interior designers David Collins Studios, we carefully integrated the lighting, the audio and the huge LED video screen into the Ballroom space. Utilising the latest lighting and video technologies allowing for a truly immersive and flexible system which is exactly what the client was after.

The Flos lighting used in the ballroom is fully motorised, allowing for the lighting to be positioned above every table precisely. What’s more is that the lighting actually save time setting up different table layouts as once done the layouts can be stored and quickly recalled. The lighting also changes colour from bright white when hosting a conference to gentle orange glow for evening dining functions a tray adaptive system all recalled at the press of a button from the integrated Crestron control system.

One of the private meeting rooms.

Hard Rock Hotel – Prague

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Construction of the 520 key, 5 star Hard Rock Hotel in Prague, Czech Republic, began in Autumn 2019 after two and a half years of intensive design work by a multi-national team of consultants. The newbuild project extends over 10 levels (3 basement, ground and 6 upper floors) and will sit beside the Sparta Prague football stadium in the district of Letna, about 20 minutes walk north of the old town.

Although Hard Rock will operate the completed hotel, our client is Letna Properties, a division of EP Real Estate, the development company owned by Czech entrepreneur, Daniel Ketínský, who also owns the Sparta Prague football team.

Technical Arts has been appointed by Letna Properties to design all lighting and AV installations across the Hotel alongside the interior designers at Fuse Studios, Leeds.

Hard Rock Hotel Prague Lobby

The basement levels below the lobby are home to the meeting, conference and event spaces. The main ballroom at the lowest level has the area and infrastructure to host a dinner for up to 1,000 guests or a conference or live music event for up to 2,000 people – supported by a substantial pre-function area with full bar and catering support which sits at the bottom of a 3-storey atrium. 

The ballroom can be sub-divided into two or three smaller spaces. The area is directly connected to the loading dock by a freight elevator large enough to bring vehicles down into the ballroom so the space is ideal for exhibitions and concerts in addition to the more usual conferences. The intermediate level contains breakout and meeting rooms and business centre. The entire area is flooded with daylight from the glass roof of the hotel lobby above.

The top floor of the hotel is the home of the extensive leisure facilities. A full service Rock Spa sits alongside a rooftop swimming pool. The pool is enclosed but sits below a glass roof and the south-facing, glaazed façade can be fully opened to transform into an open air area in the summer months – extending the area onto substantial south-facing terraces.

pool night view

The pool area plays two roles. During the day, it operates closely with the spa. The pool itself sits below a glass roof and so has the ‘feel’ of an external space. At night, it can be used for functions in conjunction with the neighbouring ‘Turquoise’ Sky Bar for cocktail parties and live music events. The lighting has been carefully designed to facilitate this change of ‘vibe’ and the cabanas used as areas for relaxation during the day become lively party booths at night. There is even a position for a stage at one end of the pool to allow for bands or a DJ to perform.

The south-facing external wall overlooks the park and Prague Castle and opens up in summer adding a substantial external terrace to the space. Access to the spa treatment rooms also follows the façade with spectacular views to the South.

spa corridor

The well-equipped Body Rock gym sits at the east end of top floor and has floor to ceiling glazing on two sides and so also shares the spectacular views towards to the city.

At the opposite end of the top floor is the signature steakhouse restaurant. This provides fine dining for around 140 guests and is expected to attract a lot of business from non-residents. Some features include a 4m high wine display, an exclusive private dining room, a pre-dinner drinks cocktail bar, a bright blue grand piano and a meat aging display lined with backlit bricks of Himalayan salt.

steakhouse restaurant

Between the Signature Restaurant and the Pool is the Sky Bar. In common with the other top floor areas, it is designed to make the most of the remarkable views towards the city of Prague and Prague Castle in particular. The Sky Bar is expected to become the ‘Go-To’ venue in Prague and to be in high demand for private functions. 

The bar features include some spectacular video mapping, which together with the flexible lighting design, can be used to transform the venue from the perfect lunch venue, to sophisticated cocktail bar and ultimately  to a full-on nightclub. The Sky Bar can be extended into the pool area for large events, including live music with bands playing alongside the pool itself.

Sessions all day restaurant

The centrally located Lobby bar sits on the edge of a three-storey atrium extending into the convention areas below. A substantial rooflight allows daylight to penetrate all the way to the lowest basement levels.  As a backdrop, the enormous 17m high, 500sqm wall will feature a huge sound wave, made from Krion fins. These rise from the second basement to the lobby ceiling and twist to make the wave – music turned into sculpture. Within the wave, hundreds of concealed LED strips create a colossal ‘graphic equalizer’ that, at night, will respond to the music in the lobby and bring the wall to life.

Construction of the hotel started on site in September 2019 and the hotel is due to open in the autumn of 2022. It promises to be quite a party!

Hard Rock Cafe – Piccadilly Circus, London

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The new Hard Rock Cafe in Piccadilly Circus combines the vibrant atmosphere of the location with the rock-and-roll attitude of the brand.

Well known for its large scale video displays, Piccadilly Circus’s new resident the Hard Rock Cafe followed suit. Technical Arts designed and installed a feature video wall on the ceiling above the stairs, enticing visitors from the Rock Shop through to the Cafe below.

It is hard not to be wowed on entry by what is now the largest Rock Shop in the world. Souvenir t-shirts, sweatshirts and keychains amongst other items fill the floor space but as Londoners know well – when in London, look up.

The ceiling has been turned into a Union flag, the LED strips combined with the video ceiling forming the flag of the United Kingdom. These LED strips are able to change colour, for example the rainbow colours of the recent PRIDE holiday. They are also programmed with the ability to adapt according to the continually changing colours of the video ceiling.

Downstairs is the all new Hard Rock Cafe, Piccadilly. A large bar and restaurant have been decked out to resemble a tube station; tiling on the floor and walls and lighting underneath the bar create this illusion.

Technical Arts were responsible for the lighting and video throughout the property, including the lighting of the alcoves, the memorabilia, the restaurant and bar and the Rock Shop.

Lighting Design Awards 2019

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We are delighted to announce that we were shortlisted for the Lighting Design Awards 2019, in the category of ‘Restaurant Project of the Year’!

The newly completed MNKY HSE, on Dover Street in Mayfair, reached the shortlist and thus fell under the description as one of “this year’s most innovative restaurant projects”.

A focus on sensory lighting that transforms the bold space as the night evolves creates the perfect space to, as MNKY HSE says, ‘eat, drink and play’.

Congratulations to everyone nominated and thank you to everyone involved!

MNKY HSE – Mayfair, London

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Technical Arts designed and installed the lighting audio for the new restaurant-bar MNKY HSE on Dover Street.

A variety of lighting styles and techniques were employed to make MNKY HSE an exciting yet sophisticated haven for its guests.

Creating intimate spaces with edginess in mind, MNKY HSE and Technical Arts created a vibrant and sophisticated Latin American vibe.

Having completed the lighting design and installation to the restaurant & bar as a whole, we were delighted to be asked to return to design the lighting installation to the new private access staircase.

The lighting for MNKY HSE’s new private entrance is simple yet effective, channeling guests into the heart of Dover Street’s coolest new restaurant by way of specialist lighting projectors that create thin stripes of light and texture on an otherwise featureless wall.

 

Victoria Gate Casino – Leeds, England

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Technical Arts have just completed the lighting scheme at the stunning Victoria Gate Casino in Leeds.  A project, which for us has now spanned three years, is finally complete and was certainly worth the wait.

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The interior scheme by Leeds based Interior Designers, Fuse Studios, is perfectly complemented by our lighting scheme.  The combined efforts of Fuse Studios and Technical Arts have created individually styled intimate areas within the vast floor area which spans three floors.  The casino has 2 bars, a restaurant, stage, two gaming floors, poker room to name but a few of the delights within.

The casino has just opened to rave reviews and the client’s are delighted with the result.