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!

Glaziers Hall – London Bridge, London

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Glaziers Hall is one of the premier corporate and private event venues in London, boasting both the history of this unique Livery Hall as well as its incredible location next to London Bridge. Constructed in 1808, it is a Grade II listed building and the final result of the painstaking renovations is a venue that is a blend of refined tradition and contemporary design.

Technical Arts was fortunate to be included in the huge refurbishment undertaken recently and the end result is quite stunning. Modern and bright, characterful and intimate, the varying spaces provide the perfect venue for all occasions. The lighting systems and designs were carefully implemented to complement these individual styles.

Large crystal chandeliers used in the Banqueting Hall add to its grandeur as well as their ability to change colour by using a hand-held tablet, allowing the room to transform according to the company, brand or theme of the event. The Banqueting Hall also benefits from uplighting the floor to ceiling wall coverings, similarly able to change colour, creating a vast canvas for the venue to play with.

The smaller rooms running alongside the River Thames itself benefit from lighting that makes the rooms feel light, bright and airy.

The Arches required a lighting system and audio system that is sympathetic to the history, design and architecture of the unusual space. Constructed into the wall of London Bridge itself, not much could be changed to make way for a new lighting system. As such, the wooden panel along the ceiling allowed the lights to be installed in this event space unobtrusively.

“Our vision was to convert and use more riverside space and create a unique environment using the walls from 1808. But of course part of the challenge was to achieve the right balance of sound in an entirely brick, underground and very reverberant chamber.” – Samantha Enstone, Glaziers Hall Managing Director.

Technical Arts were charged with finding a suitably versatile but highly discreet audio solution to this challenge, TA chose K-array speakers which fit the brief to a T. Long wooden rafts suspended from the ceiling in each of the arched vaults act as stylish counterpoints to the stone and brick whilst also housing lighting fixtures and additional speakers.

Samantha Enstone later praised the final product, “When we held our launch event in here we hosted a long table of 40 guests, and it was stunning – I could hear the audio perfectly. You can’t see the system and you don’t know where the audio is coming from, but it still sounds great. The result in here is far better than I thought it would be.”

Hard Rock Hotel – Goa, India

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In the heart of North Goa is Calangute, the beach-belt, party-capital of South West India, and in Calangute is the Hard Rock Hotel. Describing itself as an entertainment destination, Hard Rock Hotel Goa is an example of the Hard Rock Cafe mentality, going above and beyond what is expected.

The re-design of this hotel was undertaken by Fuse Studios in 2013, who recruited Technical Arts to design the lighting for the hotel and the all new Rock Shop.

Improvements were made to the bedrooms and the lobby, restaurants and pool were given facelifts too. Technical Arts oversaw that the lighting was both luxurious, warm and inviting whilst also being reflective of the Rock and Roll nature of the hotel.

The brief for this re-branding was to maximise the brand impact on a tight budget and a tight deadline. The one major installation permitted was the giant ‘Hard Rock’ sign above a mirror pool, certainly maximising brand impact when first entering the hotel.

Butlin’s – Bognor Regis, England

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Technical Arts were first approached by Bourne Leisure in February of 2018 in order to help them define and develop their requirements for a permanently installed audio system for the new Splash Pool development at the Butlins holiday resort in Bognor Regis.

The client brief requested a multi zone audio system capable of satisfying the day to day operation of the pool, with the capacity and the quality to provide high end, full range sound for the regular pool parties and adult only weekend special event programme.

A great idea of emphasis was placed on the need for the performance audio system within the pool to be heard but not seen. Technical Arts worked closely with the lead architect and partnered with 2B Heard to integrate K-Array ultra-discreet line array products onto decorative lampposts that flank the Wavepool.

Additional peripheral zones including the café and changing village were equipped with recessed and surface mounted loudspeakers from the Soundtube portfolio, providing high quality background music and paging.

St. Paul’s School – Barnes, London

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Technical Arts were employed by DES Electrical to offer expert input on the supply and delivery of distributed audio systems for the Phase I development.

We were required to work in partnership with DES Electrical, and the wider client team to ensure not only compliance with the design, but a robust and aesthetically considered end result.

Distributed and zoned audio was provided over three floors in all general promenade areas, classrooms and administration/teaching support areas.

Additional performance systems were also provided in the multi-purpose Dining Hall and the Library.

Paging and class change systems were integrated into the new build via a pre-existing IP based site wide network.

Having achieved a snag free handover for Phase I of the scheme, Technical Arts have been retained to deliver Phase II due for completion in September 2019.

Playboy Club – Mayfair, London

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With an ever increasing need to cater to high value clients in the Gaming sector, Caesar’s Entertainment UK identified a need to increase the number of VIP rooms available to their guests at the iconic Playboy Club in London’s Mayfair.

As Technical Arts have been associated with the company for years, we were contacted to provide a turnkey design and implementation package that would deliver high quality audio and video content to the new development, whilst offering simple local control over those disciplines.

Delivered on time and on budget Technical Arts met the needs of the project management team to ensure that the first VIP guests were met with the expected level of luxury and service demanded.

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!

Copper House – Berkhamsted, England

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Copper House is a newly opened independent bar and restaurant in Berkhamsted, occupying a unique Grade II listed building on the High Street.

Having undergone renovations and refurbishments it is now set to become the hub of social activity for the town, the restaurant enhancing the original features of the building with pared back yet luxe furnishings and an atmosphere to match.

Technical Arts designed and supplied the decorative lighting and audio for this new venture, from statement pieces by Tom Dixon to overhead bar lighting to create relaxed and glamorous lounge and bar areas.

Having liaised with the owners of this new establishment throughout the process on the limitations and benefits of working with a listed building, the finished product is something that is both respectful of its history and forthcoming and innovative with its design.

We wish Copper House all the best for their future, we’re looking forward to returning as soon as they stop being fully booked!