Venue #43

lighting special

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Exchange Hotel, Townsville North Queensland Audio Visual

Sacred Heart School, Cabramatta Jands in association with Stage & Studio

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JUNE Nº 43

A LITTLE LIGHT APPRECIATION

WORLD CLASS

4

Column

“Let there be light!” I whisper to myself each time I replace a light globe. From the top step of the ladder, seat of the chair, or whatever precarious footing is available. As the bayonet squeaks securely into place and juices up again with the flick of a switch, I have a moment. Being part of that process of reclaiming a dark enclave for daily use is rewarding.

But most of the time I take light for granted. The effort has on most accounts been taken care of. Rubbing two sticks together to light a fire is so tribal, bobbing along to the buoyant trace of a gas lantern went the way of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, candles are best for the bath, and even the simple motion of flipping light switches is making its way towards the historical margins.

We’ve taken our cues from nature, which quite frankly has made it too easy on us. The sun pops up regularly and without question. There’s no guesswork, it’ll be there whether your 2am closer likes it or not. Likewise, hotel room blackout blinds will automatically draw open, and the ambient lighting will slowly intensify — a fake sunrise.

And it retreats at roughly the same time too, at which point the moon takes over. Likewise, streetlights sizzle into action, most new cars have an automatic headlight setting, and even home control systems can sense your returning presence and pop on the lounge room downlights without you even batting an eyelid…or clapping your hands.

It’s all been made too easy for us. And it seems downlight logical that if you can change a light bulb at home to read venue on the dunny again, there should be nothing stopping you planning and installing your own lighting design… right? Wrong. Sure, even an architect can screw in a lightbulb — by holding it up as the world slowly revolves around them (bam!) — but there’s a bit more to great lighting design than that.

If you didn’t know already, incandescents are on the way out. Edison’s first commercially viable light bulb is no longer commercially acceptable. There are a few left, but for the most part we’re looking at a host of other technologies. And although the average home owner has been buying up compact fluorescents like they’re going out fashion, there are a whole lot of other light sources out there, both old and bleeding edge that are just right for specific applications.

This issue of venue is all about light appreciation.

While every issue we spread out stunning pictures to ogle great design, we wouldn’t be able to appreciate the standout features, or even any features at all, without the light and shade and the lighting designer that put it all together. So when you ‘ooh’ at that wonderfully moody intimate restaurant, and ‘aah’ at the summery resort that manages to combine interior lighting with streaming daylight so effortlessly, remember to have a peak at what’s lighting it up — it could be most illuminating.

Because, remember, it only takes one lighting designer to change a light bulb — and they’ll probably make it more energy efficient, choose the correct colour temperature, ensure it saves you on running costs and labour, light what you want it to light, and make it a doddle to control… at the very least.

Mark Davie is editor of venue magazine. Drop him a line at: mark@venuemag.com

“it only takes one

lighting designer to change a light bulb”

ONLY… Sydney Brisbane

Melbourne Perth

02 9748 1122 www.showtech.com.au

JUNE Nº 43

Contents “There’s a lot of competition out there, and you want your venue to look amazing, ideally more amazing than your left or right next-doorneighbour…and that’s where good lighting really makes or breaks” Volker Haug, Lighting Designer — pg52

SEE THE LIGHT Lighting Special

Swanky Lights Boring But Important Lit State Theatre Centre of WA 5 Questions, Lighting Designers Euroluce Milan report QT Resort Mounties Auckland Town Hall Lit

pg42 pg47 pg49 pg50 pg52 pg55 pg56 pg60 pg61 pg63

CONTENTS CONTACTS: Advertising Office: (02) 9986 1188 PO Box 6216, Frenchs Forest, NSW 2086 Editorial Office: (03) 5331 4949 PO Box 295, Ballarat, VIC 3353 Editor: Mark Davie (mark@venuemag.com) Publication Manager: Stewart Woodhill (stewart@venuemag.com) Editorial Director: Christopher Holder (chris@venuemag.com) Publisher: Philip Spencer (philip@venuemag.com) Art Direction & Design: Dominic Carey (dominic@alchemedia.com.au) Additional Design: Leigh Ericksen (leigh@alchemedia.com.au) Circulation Manager: Jen Temm (subscriptions@alchemedia.com.au) Accounts: Jen Temm (accounts@alchemedia.com.au)

alchemedia publishing pty ltd (ABN: 34 074 431 628) PO Box 6216, Frenchs Forest, NSW 2086 info@alchemedia.com.au All material in this magazine is copyright Š 2011 Alchemedia Publishing Pty Ltd. The title Venue is a registered Trademark. Apart from any fair dealing permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. The publishers believe all information supplied in this magazine to be correct at the time of publication. They are not in a position to make a guarantee to this effect and accept no liability in the event of any information proving inaccurate. After investigation and to the best of our knowledge and belief, prices, addresses and phone numbers were up to date at the time of publication. It is not possible for the publishers to ensure that advertisements appearing in this publication comply with the Trade Practices Act, 1974. The responsibility is on the person, company or advertising agency submitting or directing the advertisement for publication. The publishers cannot be held responsible for any errors or omissions, although every endeavour has been made to ensure complete accuracy.

New Smooth Operator Design Brief Sit Kit Prince Maximilian Australia Hotel & Brewery Qantas Canberra Lounge Crazy Wings In The Drink The Argyle Lost & Found The Atlantic See The Light, Lighting Special Commercial Edge You Wish, Mondrian SoHo

pg11 pg15 pg17 pg18 pg21 pg22 pg23 pg25 pg27 pg28 pg30 pg34 pg36 pg41 pg64 pg66

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Architects Eat recently finished the Egg Sake Bistro. It’s a basement Japanese fast-food outlet under the Union House on Melbourne University’s Parkville campus.

Cantilevered ordering windows give off that street hawker vibe and plenty of rope work on the walls lend it a Japanese feel. (Photo: Sonia Mangiapane)

White Hart is the latest venue designed

by Paul Kelly in Neutral Bay for Grant Collins of Bar Solutions.

Long & Short of it — Sydney's Longrain has been around for over a decade now, and has decided to up the ante. The main changes: downstairs has been taken over

by Longrain, with a separate bar area; booths and individual tables of five to 10 have been added and, shock!, can be booked — a Longrain first. And what’s more, you can now take the Longrain experience home by purchasing it at the new Shortgrain Canteen & Shop. Situated off Hunt Street, it has a seasonal lunch menu, ‘street’ vibe and an original range of Longrain ceramics. George Livissianis was the designer for the new additions.

VIDEO WATCH

St Ali has descended upon the UK. The Melbournebased roaster and café started by Mark Dundon of Seven Seeds and now owned by impresario Salvatore Malatesta, is going global. To ensure the quality coffee keeps flowing, St Ali has imported the UK’s first Slayer espresso machine, is importing and roasting its own beans and is developing a Barista Certification Programme. The 2522sqft venue will also be acquiring a late night license to cater for restaurant patrons and live events. Tim Cooke, an Aussie industrial designer based in the UK, designed the fitout as part of his company Long Black Ltd. And Paul Jewson, who was previously cooking up amazing dishes at Outpost has moved back to the UK to head up the kitchen, with input from St Ali’s head chef Ben Cooper. Tim Styles will be heading up operations, another Aussie ex-pat, who began his career at St Ali when it first opened, before working for Intelligentsia in the US and Square Mile coffee roasters in the UK before returning to the fold. Next export to come is the Sensory Lab.

Run the World (Girls), Beyoncé

Given women make up half the race, there aren’t nearly enough calling the shots. Okay, Australia has the ‘Red Barren’ herself, Julia Gillard, in power, but like Baroness Thatcher, Joan Kirner AM and Oprah Winfrey she’s the exception that proves the rule. Elsewhere positions of power are permeated with the pungent odour of testosterone: fat, self-satisfied alpha males, safely cocooned in their fortresses of power, exchanging cosy favours and feathering their own nests.

Shake up these echelons of influence with some feminine smarts and you may start to see common sense prevail… and life as a Sofitel chambermaid might just be safer as a result.

Beyoncé Knowles has other ideas. Apparently girls already run the world. And being an irredeemably hopeless member of the weaker sex (ie. a bloke) I’m not here to argue the toss. Ms Knowles is scary. Making millions one minute, bearing children the next... getting back to bidness soon after… she’s crazy-scary in a Tina Turner, Beyond Thunderdome way — a leatherclad Earth Motha that will open a can of whoopass if you even so much as look at her funny.

All that said, given how ‘The World’ looks under Beyoncé’s pelvic-thrusting dictatorship, I

think she could be doing a better job… just quietly. It’s a post-apocalyptic wasteland,

where burnt out bangers continue to smoulder and people hang out under freeway flyovers (hardly the hallmark of a

thriving society in my reading of sci-fi).

Tough-ass motha world ruling No. 1: Fire the fire department and tell the NMRA to ‘talk to the hand’.

Beyoncé has a strange taste in pets. A dozy lion, and a couple of frothing hyenas, no less.

Presumably all the hard-ass sistas running the world hold cute kittens or Sorbent-entangled puppy dogs in scant regard.

Tough-ass motha world ruling No. 2: Don’t return Dr Harry’s phone calls. In fact, feed him to the hyenas.

What’s more, the bad-ass mothas running the world seemed to have had most of their clothes ripped off in some kind of scorchedearth blast. Mostly girls now wear stockings and suspender belts. Beyoncé does a nice line in chunky accessories that could easily put a (bloke’s) eye out.

Tough-ass motha world ruling No. 3: All sarongs, macrame, and hand-crafted felt pouches for carrying healing crystals are verboten.

General carnage aside, this song is a tale of the age-old power struggle between men and women. With girls running the world one might be naive enough to assume a level of rapprochement; a truce between the sexes for the sake of our children’s children’s grandchildren (who can presumably clean up the twisted wreckage and remember to feed the hyenas). Sorry, not a bit of it. Under the notso-benevolent rule of Her Beyoncé-ness, all blokes are a cowering mess, with only one or two eunuchs spared for their amusing break-

dancing prowess.

Tough-ass motha world ruling No. 4: Maintain a standing army of riot police to protect the remaining blokes from we bad-ass mothas. Rule 4, Subsection A: Kick the standing army’s ass on occasion so they don’t forget that sistas freak it best.

One thing’s for sure, girl power has come a long way since the Spice Girls told us to ziggy-zigahh. – Christopher Holder

11

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One gallon of rum, that’s all it took for John McArthur to buy up all the land that makes up Pyrmont and Ultimo in 1798. It costs a little more than bartering booze to snatch up a parcel of land nowadays, but it doesn’t stop the locals having a good old haggle. For Gallon, owners Julian Leitl and co. resourcefully procured 90% of the fixtures and fittings from auctions and other businesses closing down, and gratefully accepted a few donations from a generous former employer. The stainless was put together by Austmont Catering Equipment, but pretty much everything else has the fingerprints of the owners on it. Seeing as though the building was previously a marketing office, it did mean that all the services had to be run from scratch, but the silver lining was the opportunity to place everything exactly where they wanted to achieve an efficient flow. Gallon is a place for Pyrmont locals, and the 80sqm of sandstone uncovered beneath the render will go a long way to making them feel at home.

Gallon: 117 Harris St, Pyrmont NSW

Issue 42 Recap — Newmarket Audio

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Last issue we featured our Pub Transformation dream team on the cover and had a brief look at three venues from the Melbourne Pub Group. The latest, The Newmarket Hotel, as well as featuring a stunningly thought out design by Six Degrees has an equally considered audio system courtesy of Richard Hallam of Your Sound Investment, who also fitted out the other projects by the Melbourne Pub Group.

market of Australia, With the choice of birch timber cabinets in white or black, indoor or outdoor, SV series steps ahead of the pro audio field in everyday installations. SV series brings features to life that make every installers day, a Dream!

The audio system is broken up into four zones: Main Bar, Dining, Toilets and Outdoors.

At the hub of the system is a Cloud Venue 4 control system with RSL6 wall controls. The main bar and restaurant locations have a combination of ceiling loudspeakers by Bose (for high volume level location) and Redback (low volume level locations and the toilets), along with a hidden Turbosound Subbass unit buried in the ceiling. Due to the differences in the loudspeakers and purpose, good quality dbx 31-band equalisers were used across each zone to achieve optimum sonic quality throughout the venue. And Bose in-ground loudspeakers sound particularly good outdoors. The amplifiers are a mix of QSC, Australian Monitor and Quest.

NEW GENERATION IN PRO AUDIO

There are audio inputs for two iPods at the bar that can be zoned to any location. And Richard installed a little nostalgic class at the end of the main bar — an input for a ’70s Luxman pre-amplifier with a dual turntable for playing vinyl. “With the addition of some EQ this sounds very nice and sounds warm like vinyl should,” said Richard.

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The reception desk has been fitted out with inputs and power for a DJ to bring in their tools and play some tunes with a dbx compressor/limiter fitted to keep volume levels in check.

The results are very pleasing to the ear and was achieved on a strict, conservative budget, according to Richard.

Your Sound Investment: 0419 577 572 or www.ysi.com.au

Technical Audio Group (QSC): (02) 9519 0900 or www.tag.com.au

National Audio Systems (Cloud): 1800 441 440 or www.nationalaudio.com.au

Jands (dbx):

Group Technologies (Quest): (03) 9354 9133 or www.grouptechnologies.com.au

Hills SVL (Turbosound & Australian Monitor): (02) 9647 1411 or www.hilllssvl.com.au

Bose: 1800 173 371 or www.bose.com.au

(02) 9582 0909 or info@jands.com.au

Hospitality young-guns Sam and Rob Franchina (aged 29 and 27 respectively) have spotted a niche in Perth. It’s the ‘best of everything’ topshelf niche — certainly a nice niche if you can fill it. The brothers have been on the Perth scene since kicking off the Onyx Bar six year ago. For the last three years they have been working on XO Lounge after buying the lease from ‘colourful business identity’ Warren Mead — who most recently made news by tying the knot with his sixth wife, a ‘Muslim woman 39 years his junior who speaks no English’… I’m sure they’ll be very happy together.

The XO Lounge’s central feature is the glowing onyx marble bar but luxury abounds most everywhere, with granite and marble from head to toe, state-of-the-art surround sound system, crockery from Dubai, Italian glassware and French cutlery. www.xolounge.com.au

Craft brewing is big, which kind of goes against the whole idea of small guys taking on the big brewers. And if you don’t have your own label of Eastern European styled lagers, Indian ales or Whitbiers then you can at least have a crack at homebrew in your cupboard at home. It’s similar to the rise of independent coffee roasters, where bigger isn’t necessarily better. Step in a couple of our Kiwi cousins, Ian Williams and Anders Warn, who have built a contraption to bridge the gap between home and craft brews. The WilliamsWarn is an all-in-one brewing machine for home, work, café or bar. The difference? It’s all automated, and after seven days can spit out 23L of perfectly brewed beer — all for NZ$5660. www.williamswarn.com

Secret Garden is a bar and events venue on St Kilda’s Fitzroy Street.

It’s split across a thoroughfare, with ample outdoor areas, including a faux-grass, picket-lined lounge that looks straight off a Miami rooftop.

With an events background, Lanis, Tucker and Skye, the three gents behind the concept have put a lot of effort into thinking laterally, using the thoroughfare to advantage as a fashion show and hosting Jay-Z’s entourage for a private party. They enlisted Matty Ellis from Inspired Carpentry to help build the place and construct the furniture, the staff uniforms were created by Kiss Chacey (male shirts) and Bul Clothing (female cardigans), the creative ideas and theming were all run through Michelle Wilkie of PTID environments to turn into proper plans and designs, and Light Dimensions designed and installed the sound, including EV SX300 speakers, QSC amplifiers, Pioneer DJ gear and Bosch outdoor speakers. www.secretgardenbar.com

The new Westfield flagship store is full of handpicked retailers and outlets, even down to the food court offerings. One of those is Simon Goh’s Sassy’s Red — Goh coming from the successful Chinta Ria Malaysian restaurant.

Brad Ward Design headed up the design, which was under the careful scrutiny of pretty much all the parties in the Westfield hierarchy, according to Brad. And the finished design is surely worthy to stand beneath the Westfield.

The Treehouse Hotel is a new Sydney venue, well actually a relocation of the existing Victoria Cross Hotel to a new location. The new hotel has open kitchen and bar areas and a terrace dining area designed by architect John Ochrane. With gnomes on the tables, vibrantly-coloured umbrellas and various vines climbing through the venue, The Treehouse is certainly outdoors-y.

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SMOOTH OPERATOR Revisiting an Established favourite Matt Mullins is a partner in Sand Hill Road hospitality group

I’m a Melbourne boy. Who loves Sydney.

I’ve never lived there. But I love the city like… like it’s my own, I guess. Perhaps it’s because I’ve never lived in Sydney that I love it so much. I’ve never experienced any of the frustrations that so often seem to tease and try my Sydney friends. When I come to Sydney I surf, run and go out.

That’s about it. (On City to Surf day we get to do all three — and you’d have to work very hard to convince me there’s a better place on earth than the North Bondi RSL on that sunny Spring afternoon after a morning spent battling Heartbreak Hill and my ample deficiencies as a surfer.)

Anyway, this particular sunny Autumn afternoon in Sydney, I’m heading down to Rosemount Australian Fashion Week at the Overseas Passenger Terminal. Awaiting me are — in no particular order — free booze, the most extraordinary view on the planet and several dozen of the world’s most beautiful women, none of whom will talk to me… but hey, as the fat guy once said: two outta three ain’t bad. In fact, for a simple kid from the country, it’s all pretty enticing. And yet here I am, a kilometre away, distracted and delayed. Because to get to the Overseas Passenger Terminal I have to walk down George St, past the Establishment. And I can’t walk past the Establishment. I can never walk past the Establishment. I just have to go in. This is the place that changed it all. This is the place that reinvented hospitality design in Australia. And its charms lure me now just as they first did 11 years ago.

and pub design hadn’t evolved much further than it had down south. But something was definitely stirring, and it came emblazoned with the five-coloured rings of the IOC. The world was coming to Sydney. The city was to host the biggest party on earth. And that meant money. Plenty of money… if you knew how to get it and you were prepared to spend some first.

Nothing epitomised this leap to worldclass (and expensive) design better than Merivale’s Establishment.

Looking back now from the relative luxury of 2011, it’s easy to forget just how groundbreaking it was. First, there was the sheer scale of it, the audacity that defied all previous expectations. More interesting though, was its visionary rethinking of typical notions of form and style. The vast, voluminous public bar with grand vistas reaching from front to back, was Australia’s first great foray into minimalist open-plan drinking (we’d been doing open-plan living for a decade, but pubs and bars had tended to retain their original Victorian or Art Deco floorplans – pokey, nooky and intimate). The style too was new — the great slabs of white marble, the imported Italian chandeliers, the grand colonnade of pillars and, of course, those TV’s that hung on the wall like paintings (any one of which could have been sold to pay for the entire renovation of our first pub — and could probably have given us change to replace mum’s broken antique lamp…).

Upstairs meanwhile, Hemmesphere reinvented speakeasy entertaining, where ‘open-plan’ and ‘voluminous’ were dirty words. This space predated by several years Soho House’s spread from London through Europe and the US, evolving its contemporary blend of luxuriant lounging and dining, where armchairs and carvers, bar stools and ottomans, dining and coffee tables nestle side by side defying decades of demarcation, offering every kind of hospitality experience in the one exquisitely-furbished room. I stayed recently at the new Soho House Berlin, and remain in awe of how completely this concept has been realised. But I’m also in awe of how well Merivale did it all that time ago.

Sydney’s Olympic renaissance sent ripples right throughout our industry, not the least of which was this: it proved it could be done. It was our Field of Dreams moment. It was irrevocable proof that if you built it they would come. Or perhaps more accurately, “if you built it right…”

For our own part, Sand Hill Road’s ambition has expanded in those 11 years, yet has remained decidedly modest. We learnt many lessons from that halcyon era. Design is an art. You better have a Godgiven talent, or hire someone who does. DIY is bloody great fun, but fraught with mediocrity. That said, hospitality is all about character and personality. Without this, your venue may have a pretty shell, but it won’t feel like home — for either you or your punters. These days, we hire the best designers we know. But at some stage during the design of each venue, we still grab a slab, crack a beer together and sit round a blank page to dream.

Times have definitely changed, and Establishment’s vast public bar resonates with just the quietest whisper of anachronism when compared with the intimate, moody labyrinthine spaces of its younger but bigger sister, Ivy. But that’s the magic of great design. Like a Mies Barcelona chair, or a Lloyd Wright prairie house or — for that matter — a Nike tick, great design will weather all manner of insults, imitations and eras.

“Design is an art. You better have a Godgiven talent, or hire someone who does.”

ESTABLISHED BEGINNINGS A year earlier, in 1999, my partners and I had designed our first pub.

Here’s how we did it: 1 — purchased slab of VB; 2 — hooked up at mum and dad’s place ’cos they were away and their place has a pool, and wine, and space, none of which we have at any of our joints; 3 — cracked a beer; 4 — agreed on an agenda. One word: “design”. 5 — cracked another beer. 6 — became distracted with conversations about exciting new things like the interweb, email and those new TV’s that hang on the wall like a painting; 7 — finished the slab, raided dad’s wine cellar, invited a bunch of people over and had a party.

Not particularly productive, but obviously lots of fun. The next morning we woke late, compared hangovers, surveyed the damage, shared a slice of cold pizza, Araldited together the two halves of mum’s favourite antique lampshade, and went down to the local op-shop to buy a trailer-load of furniture that we’d go on to install in our pub. And we’d call it design.

But remember, this was 1999. In Melbourne we were yet to see the sleek, high-end, bespoke architecture we take for granted today. Donlevy’s Dog’s Bar and George development had already lent a rich European flavour to St Kilda’s bar scene, but the van Haandel’s Prince was still a few months away. The wild, eclectic, grandma-chic that had first appeared in the mid-90s in Perth, and transplanted itself into Melbourne venues like the Terminus and the Builder’s Arms was high-concept, but not highend. Similarly, Six Degrees’ early interiors for Meyers’ Place and Troika were highly considered, but still comprised primarily of found objects and brilliant repurposing. The most glamorous interior of the time, the Prahran Hotel, with its dark and moody take on French provinciality, was still more décor than fully-integrated architecture.

RINGMASTERS In Sydney meanwhile — while the Leagues clubs were investing big and inventing their ubiquitous brand of gaming lounge bland — bar

15

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DESIGN BRIEF Lighten up: how architects don’t take themselves as seriously as some believe, especially Hollywood.

Story: Russell Lee

Films fascinate me almost as much as architecture. I can sit mesmerised in front of a cinema screen. When its film about architecture then a light switch really flips for me.

There is of course the high-brow, art house examples, like Peter Greenaway’s Belly of the Architect or the theoretically challenging cinematic research that informs a type of architecture based on the merging of cinema with architecture and visa versa [Huh? – Ed].

BUILDING CHARACTERS Never fear, I’ll spare you the dry research and look at popular cinema, where the lead character is an architect, like Sleepless in Seattle, One Fine Day and the Lake House [Wot? No Brady Bunch? – Ed]. All these ‘movie architects’ seem to lead lives so far removed from the reality of the daily studio grind, you are unlikely to ever encounter, let alone commission, anyone like them for your hotel, hospitality or venue project. If you do — call me and the Australian Institute of Architects immediately!

For example, in Sleepless in Seattle, Tom Hanks plays a mourning, widowed architect crushed by the loss of the love of his life. When he isn’t reflecting on his situation, Tom seems to spend most of his time trying to rearrange some client’s kitchen so she can simply have somewhere to put her serving platters. While he wrestles with this taxing issue, his son steals the scene and hooks him up with Meg Ryan.

Better still is Michelle Pfeiffer in One Fine Day. Single-handedly she develops a stunning proposal to woo a pair of developers into engaging her architectural firm for their project. To make it more challenging, she achieves this with an accident-prone son clinging to her ankles and George Clooney making constant passes at her. Her defensive weapon of choice is a multi-functional handbag that would put a Swiss army knife to shame.

Eclipsing these unlikely representations of the architect is Keanu Reeves in the romantic melodrama the Lake House, a Hollywood remake of the South Korean Il Mare. As wooden as the lake house itself, (despite the fact that its made of steel and glass) Reeves plays an intense young architect, whose brother and father are also intense and also architects. His father designs the glass house perched above the lake in the middle of nowhere, without so much as a bathroom to interrupt the flow of light, all for the love of his wife, Keanu’s mother.

Despite the dazzling design and enormous sacrifice in building the lake house, the family splinters (no pun intended). Keanu has to rely on a time warp and Sandra Bullock to defy the time-space continuum and monotony to rescue him and possibly us, from a fate worse than death — a sequel.

NO JOKE The unifying impression one gets from these popular representations is that architects are all somewhat self-absorbed and humourless and could certainly lighten up a little. But let me tell you architects can be funny, hilarious in fact.

Not that this is encouraged in the education of architects. Students,

certainly when I was one, were often instructed to read things like Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead. Its central character, Howard Roark, played by Gary Cooper in the movie version, is an individualistic young architect, who chooses to struggle in obscurity rather than compromise artistic and personal vision. The story follows his battle to practice what he believes is superior modern architecture, despite a tradition-worshipping establishment.

Typically after such a read one becomes not merely a student of architecture but its crusading knight. There is no room for sentimentally, just the purity of modern design.

We lived and breathed architecture and dreamed of changing the world, the indoctrination process complete.

Fortunately as a young graduate, I also had the great pleasure and enlightening experience of working with Max Dupain. Max had worked with many of the great baby boomer architects, photographing their buildings in intriguing, iconic black and white. He dutifully pursued his task, making sure the composition was balanced, with the right mix of light and shade to capture a compelling sense of drama. Of course he was careful to ensure the shots were people-less so as not to detract from the importance of the edifice. Architects would salivate at the thought of seeing Max’s prints of their building.

WITS END But Dupain would always inject a subtle sense of humanity into the work. A glimpse of a careless bystander here, a carefully arranged shadow across the foreground there. In the sheer magic of these images, there is always a sly smile detectable.

It was eye–opening and led me to recognise architects who themselves injected a kind of levity into their work ranging from the whimsical to the positively absurd. Take Szotynscy and Zeleski’s Crooked House in Sopot, Poland, Frank Gehry’s Chiat-Day Building with its giant binoculars in Venice Beach, California, not to mention the local Gagadju Crocodile Hotel in Kakadu.

Sometimes an architect’s wit can be cheeky. A prominent architect was urgently called to a client’s house in the middle of the night as the conversation pit in their lounge had flooded. Having debated their instruction for this popularist feature, he decided to have some fun in their plight. On arrival at their house, he pulled a rubber ducky out of this pocket, threw it into the pit and said, “Now there is something to talk about!”

I still believe architecture can change the world but that it can do so more resolutely through a sense of humanity tinged with humour.

Russell Lee, Director at Cox Richardson Architects and Planners, the Sydney branch of Cox Architecture Pty Ltd and draws on his knowledge and expertise as an international expert on leisure and sport design in writing our column on Venue Warmth. He has been responsible for many innovative sports and resort facilities in the UAE, Qatar, Taiwan, China, Iran, New Zealand and Australia including Sydney Cricket Ground’s Victor Trumper Stand, Rooty Hill Gymnasium and Aquatic Centre, plus assisting the FFA’s bid for the FIFA 2018-2022 World Cup.

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Buzzicube 3D

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Croissant Arms

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Made in Belgium, the Buzzicube 3D is upholstered in soft felt. The pouf is a colourful addition to any space and a welcome resting place not only for your feet but your behind as well. It comes in a variety of Tetris shapes including the ‘T’ and the ‘L’ — thankfully Buzzicube left that confounded ‘Z’ shape out of production.

Surprisingly slimline for an armchair named after a buttery pastry treat, the Croissant armchair has a solid beech frame with upholstered seat and back.

Designed by Emilio Nanni for Billiani, the Italian chair is sourced from plantation timber, comes with a 24 months warranty and is available in a matching dining chair with no arms and low lounge armchair.

Zenith Interiors: (03) 9693 2600 or www.zenithinteriors.com.au

Café Culture: (02) 9699 8577 or www.cafeculture.com.au

Blues Chair

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Designed by Pocci and Dondoli, Blues is a polypropylene chair created with latest generation gas-moulding technology. Blues stands out due to its functionality and versatile style, making it suitable even for the most special environments.

Ideal for outdoor use, it has a wide range of applications in the contract sector.

Chairbiz: 1300 888 434 or www.chairbiz.com

Zzzen Out

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Zzzen out, or rock out, with the Fousse Zzzen rocking armchair. The rocking shell is roto-moulded polyethylene, its 100% recyclable, weatherproof, lightweight, super tough and UV resistant. The cushion is covered in Sunbrella material in a selection of colours. And the shell comes in either white or anthracite.

Form + Function: 0438 378 335 or www.form-function.com.au

Catifa in Oak

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The Catifa 53 collection has grown a four-leg solid oak frame. The oak frame is available in three finishes: bleached oak, natural oak and wenge. And the shell is available in polypropylene or double curved plywood. It comes with a five-year structural warranty.

Stylecraft: (02) 9355 0000 or www.stylecraft.com.au

Stanford Chair

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Made from American Walnut, the Stanford is all about clean lines and simplicity, and is the result of Jan Sabro’s award-winning experience in Scandinavian design. Price: $432.

Exhibit Interiors: (03) 9663 6333 or www.exhibit.net.au

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Head Office p. 61 2 9550 0811 ext 1 Vic, Tas or SA p. 0403 254 200

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DME On Demand With DME On Demand, full-day training on Yamaha’s DME processors is available year-round by appointment.

To make an appointment for Yamaha DME On Demand training, call (03) 9693 5272 or email jason_allen@gmx.yamaha.com

MY expansion cards ensure that Yamaha’s extensive range of DME Series programmable DSPs, digital mixers and TXn Series power amplifiers are always compatible with the widest variety of audio formats.

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Baked In Sound

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The Harvest Café near Byron is light and airy with teak floorboards and an innovative menu that draws a loyal crowd. It has become so popular that owners Kassia Picone and Tristan Grier expanded the operation to the adjacent 100-year-old bakery. To fit out a background audio system that was to double for use with live performance they called in Paul Morris of Morris Communications. When Tristan refused to settle for a portable system, happy to shell out for the real deal, Paul mounted four JBL 29AV speakers high up in the beams, four JBL Control 47LP in-ceiling speakers were installed in the lower roof, and Control 23 speakers for outside. These are all fed through a dbx Zonepro 640 distribution system and powered by Crown XLS digital amplifiers. The Zonepro 640 breaks down the venue into four zones, with remote panels behind the bar to control the levels of each. “It also gives us the ability to control, equalise and set parameters individually for the zones and for the sources. So you can walk around the entire venue with a wireless microphone and have absolutely no feedback and it just sounds great,” said Paul. For live performance, a Soundcraft EFX8 mixing console is secreted away in a bookcase, along with a couple of Shure Beta 58 and a wireless microphone.

Jands: (dbx, JBL, Crown, Soundcraft) (02) 9582 0909 or info@jands.com.au Morris Communications: (02) 6628 7311 or www.morriscommunications.com.au

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Eon Powers Up

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A few speakers from JBL’s venerable EON series have been getting the ‘XT’-ra treatment, the latest being the 515XT. The powered speaker updates come courtesy of system enhancements the boffins injected into the higher end PRX600 range. JBL figured, why not put them in the Eon too. Through some nifty amplifier optimisation, the maximum SPL has been bumped up from an ear-bleedingly loud 129dB to an even more ear-bleedingly loud 132dB. Input sensitivity has increased by 10dB, there are now user adjustable EQ controls and a simplified three-channel mixer configuration.

Hall Pass

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Twitch Touch

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The Hall Research VSA-51 Room Control System allows venues to control up to five modular AV inputs from any PC, Mac, smart phone or tablet. It gives users the freedom to control a number of analogue and digital sources from their iPad or iPhone among others. Giving full control over a range of features such as switching video, adjusting volume, or performing preprogrammed actions.

Madison Technologies: 1800 007 780 or www.madisontechnologies.com.au

Innovative Music: (03) 9540 0658 or www.innovativemusic.com.au

Jands: (02) 9582 0909 or info@jands.com.au

Aussie AMDs

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The Australian Monitor AMD series of power amplifiers feature Class D designs in a 1U package. The four models are the dual 100W AMD2100P, the dual 200W AMD2200P, the four by 100W AMD4100P and the four by 200W AMD4200P. All have balanced inputs per channel, level controls, 100V, 70V and 4Ω outputs per channel. Most of the control is available via an RS232 connection, including levels, mutes, standby modes, and fault indication.

Hills SVL: (02) 9647 1411 or www.hillssvl.com.au

Vogel Thin Mount

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Vogel’s Thin 345 wall mount for ultra-thin LED screens has taken out a Red Dot Design Award in 2011. With just 3.5cm separating the TV from the wall, it allows the screen to blend into the architecture without actually being in it. And when the time comes to make it more visible, the mount can be turned 90 degrees each way and tilted 20 degrees. Price: $599.

Canohm: (03) 9645 4700 or www.canohm.com.au

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Touch control is the centre of Novation’s Twitch DJ controller.

Taking Serato’s Itch software and giving it a real life hardware interface is all well and good, but Novation has kept that technological edge by introducing two LED back-lit touchstrips into the controller mix. Alongside the 16 touchpads, cross fader and effects, the touchstrips allow you to grab, pinch, tap and nudge to navigate, perform and improvise with tunes. Twitch is also a 2-in 4-out audio interface, Midi compatible and built for the road.

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FRESH PRINCE Prince Maximilian Hotel: 32 Commercial Road, Prahran (03) 9529 1006 Photography: Andrew Wuttke

The Prince Maximilian Hotel has been returned to its Art Deco roots. Well, like all buildings originally built in the 19th century, somewhere along the line it was rebuilt in an Art Deco style, and well, it’s back again. Most recently it was the Hotel Max, a more intimate French restaurant, but new owners Michael Broderick and Grant Philpott wanted to create a relaxed pub environment that was fresh, friendly and inviting, with a bright and casual interior that suits the all-day crowd. The clients were keen to pay homage to the history of the building, without going down the track of a restoration. Andrew Mitchell of Urban Pad incorporated a striking white herringbone tile pattern on the walls — inspired by original herringbone tiles on the floor of the bar. Bold axminster carpet in green, orange and red provides a burst of colour and an impressive 7m-long deco-inspired bar is both serviceable and the central design feature.

CONTACTS Urban Pad: 0402 028 103 or www.urbanpad.com.au All Floors: (Spacia W2512 Ember Oak Boards) (Feltex Persian Jewel Axminster Carpet) (03) 9572 2111 or www.allfloorscarpetgallery.com.au Caesarstone (Snow Bar Top): 1300 279 927 or www.caesarstone.com.au National Tiles (Wall Tiles): 1300 733 000 or www.nationaltiles.com.au James Richardson (Furniture): (03) 9428 1621 or www.jamesrichardson.com.au Schots Home Emporium (Art Deco Wall Lights and Pendants): 1300 693 693 or www.schots.com.au In-Ex Living (Circle On Circle Mirrors): (03) 9813 4550 or www.in-ex.com.au

Unit 1, 24 Vore Street Silverwater NSW 2128 Serving you with 20 years of LED experience

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Chandeliers made of stubbies might just be the craziest amalgamation of class and authentic Aussie hospitality venue has ever seen. But if you’re calling the place The Australian Hotel & Brewery, and trying to maintain a rustic outback spirit without turning it into a shearing shed, then stubby chandeliers are probably the answer.

The large, industrial space made for an unwieldy brief for KM Designs, particularly when combined with operators Marcelo and Leon Colosimo’s desire for a cosy family space with distinct sections for dining, drinking and gaming. “Looking back, with how many people we’ve had coming through, we could’ve made it bigger. We wanted it to be functional for a large amount of people, and as efficient as possible,” said Marcelo.

It’s not just the numbers, but variety too. On Thursdays, the hotel is packed out with a younger crowd, while the really young ones have their own playground onsite.

It’s a challenge that invites contrast, and KM designer Kathryn Mesiti relishes the discord. “I wanted to have it old versus new because it appeals to the older family crowd as well as being a cool venue with some more modern features.”

Although the scenery lends itself to the reused and recycled, budget and space considerations meant the Aussie-styled interior relied on key features and considered

combinations of colour, material and texture. “We went to more commercial furniture places, but they were quite flexible. Because a lot of this rustic style is coming back, a lot of suppliers are starting to source the kind of stuff which isn’t so sleek and modern,” said Kathryn.

LED lighting is used throughout, with the aforementioned beer chandeliers hovering over the main entrance. Similarly, creative fixtures light the TAB and dining area, with lights and speakers neatly embedded in beams and piping.

The concrete bar is another coup for ingenuity, and as with all great Aussie innovations can be traced back to beer. “In terms of the profile I got the idea from a beer tap neck. We worked closely with a company which does concrete pillars in carparks — they did the moulds for us and we poured it ourselves,” said Kathryn.

The Brewery also boasts a considerable green slant with eco-conscious fixtures from the ground up. Marcelo and Leon hope the environmentally-friendly branding will carry over as they market their in-house beer further afield. “We’ve tried to reduce the amount of energy we’re going to need by putting in place a lot of thermal insulation. And we’ve got about 600,000L capacity of rainwater to use in our toilets and gardens,” said Leon.

“It’s made it quite an energy efficient venue.”

TRUE BREW The Australian Hotel & Brewery: 350 Annangrove Rd, Rouse Hill NSW (02) 9679 4555 or www.australianhotelandbrewery.com.au Story: Jessica Black

CONTACTS KM Designs (Design): 0422 757 883 or kmdesigns@live.com.au Hughes Commercial Furniture: 1800 242 479 or www.hughescf.com.au Jag Floors (Tascot Carpet): 1300 729 524 or www.jagfloors.com.au Di Lorenzo Tiles (Mosaic): (02) 9698 8737 or www.dilorenzo.net.au Gitani Stone (Custom stone): (02) 9838 8880 or www.gitanistone.com.au Materialised (Upholstery): (02) 8558 3500 or www.materialised.com EcoTile (Tiles): 1300 137 502 or www.ecotile.com.au Nightlife: 1800 679 748 or www.nightlife.com.au

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25 CONTACTS Woods Bagot: (02) 9295 4050 or www.woodsbagot.com Point Project Management: (02) 6175 3600 or www.pointpm.com.au Point of View (Lighting Design): (02) 9818 6355 or www.pov.com.au 1

Space Furniture (Moooi Random Pendant): (02) 8339 7588 or www.spacefurniture.com.au The Mack Group (Kitchen Design): (02) 9550 0566 ASNPL (Accessibility): 1300 668 985 or www.asnpl.com.au

Business travel rarely looks as good as the inside of a Qantas Lounge. And the latest collaboration between Woods Bagot and Qantas within the new Canberra Airport Terminal doesn’t disappoint. As each new lounge is added to the stable, we see a gradual evolution of sophisticated spaces that reflect the Qantas brand.

“The vision was to create a lounge that caters for today’s requirements, yet can be easily adapted to expand and accommodate future passenger growth,” said Alison Webster, Executive Manager, Customer Experience, Qantas Airways.

The lounge incorporates custom-designed furniture by David Caon and Woods Bagot, the new upholstery palette includes pure aniline leather, classic geometric textiles, sateen wool and a variety of rich textured upholstery from Maharam, Woven Image and Mokum. Travertine floors and signature elements such as Akira Isogawa-designed wall textiles and feature lighting including the hanging pendants by Moooi, all add to the warmth and ambience of the space.

The Qantas Club is divided into two different zones — a light filled outlook to the runway and hills beyond, and an inter-

nal space housing the bar and buffet framed by layered timber walls and ceiling — custom feature lighting adds to the ambience of the space. The lounge is connected by timber screening elements, which provide warmth and texture, and break the large space down to provide intimate seating settings within the lounge. While the upholstery palette has been refreshed with crisp contemporary colours and patterns.

“The project provided an opportunity to create two distinct lounges, to evolve and freshen the Qantas Club look and feel as well as introduce a new palette and furniture to the Business Lounge. The planning of the lounges had to support the amenities provided for the customer and allow Qantas to grow and adapt the lounge for future customer needs,” said Tamara White, Associate, Woods Bagot.

The lounges provide a number of amenities, including shower and meeting room facilities. In addition to the lounge seating and communal dining tables, customers have the ability to touchdown at the internet or work benches or relax at the high bars. The lounges are designed to provide the customer choice and support their needs.

LOUNGE SWEET Qantas Lounge Canberra: Canberra Airport, ACT Photography: Brent Winstone

Delta Range

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profilestone panels www.stonini.com.au

Head Office p. 61 2 9550 0811 ext 1 Vic, Tas or SA p. 0403 254 200

Delta Creme Brulee subtle

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CONTACTS V&H Design: (02) 8509 5928 or www.vhdesign.com.au Reliable Shopfitting: (02) 9769 1350 or www.reliableshopfitting.com.au Reliable LED (Lighting): (02) 9769 1350 or www.reliableled.com.au Sydney Commercial Flooring: 1300 367 810 or www.scflooring.com.au

Crazy Wings has spread its wings from Chinatown to Chatswood. Right in Chatswood’s Eat Street dining precinct, Crazy Wings’ brand of hawker-style street food is ideal. Crazy Wings is the Chinese takeaway takeover. Specialising in Kao Chuan — Chinese for BBQ skewers — there is already over 300 stores in China and Korea, and now two in Sydney.

V&H Design headed up the second store design. And the references are dutifully obvious; it’s full of red Chinese lanterns, wooden furniture and engraved sandstone walls. Even the wooden door centrepiece is at the back of the restaurant, not the front. It’s full of traditional Chinese ‘artefacts’ re-interpreted for the busy Sydney crowd.

The Chinese inspiration is disseminated across a main dining room, outdoor area and a separate bar. And a touch of Asian cuteness is attached to one of the bamboo screens, where customers can pin up ‘post-it’ note messages and polaroid shots of them with skewers between their teeth. Crazy good.

CRAZY FOR CHINESE Crazy Wings: 1-5 Railway Street, Chatswood NSW (02) 9410 3978

IN THE DRINK Exploring a hate/love relationship with the daiquiri Jason Williams is Group Cocktail Manager of Keystone Hospitality and oversees The Loft in Sydney

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The daiquiri is one of the first cocktails I ever made and probably the first cocktail I started to really dislike. You might think it odd that a professional bartender and ‘avid researcher’ like myself could possible dislike a cocktail; but I had good reason.

It was while I was working at a café in Noosa that I was first introduced to this unholy blended/melted mixture of rum and lime with lashings of fruit coolie. And night after night, over and over, patrons would tell me their tale of the summer classic.

Each one taking great pleasure in informing me which flavour was their favourite, which bar made the best and when they had their first. But it was usually mango, the best they had was last Summer at a bar further up Hastings Street and the first they had was either on their honeymoon or at "a nephew’s wedding in the Whitsundays".

Our daiquiri happy hour was very popular with tourists and locals alike, no doubt it still is. We blended hundreds of them every afternoon, while guests sipped on the icy goodness as the sun went down over beautiful Laguna Bay — potentially the best possie to sip on such a quintessential holiday cocktail.

I only got tired of the frozen freakin’ daiquiri because I made so many of them. In fact, at the time I didn’t even think of the daiquiri as a cocktail. It was an alcoholic slushy with artificial fruit purees and bottled lime juice. I didn’t even drink them.

PASSION BEARS FRUIT Upon finishing school and the obligatory period of bumming around on the beach, I moved to Brisvegas to pursue (I use the term loosely, I may of been pursuing something else) my hospitality career. I didn’t set out to be a bartender per se but got pretty good at it and was quickly recruited into the classiest cocktail bars in the city. That’s where I started my passive obsession with bartending and everything around it; the fine liquors, mixology (a term I rarely use), the rich history of cocktails, and the cultivation of beers, wines and spirits.

I was hooked. While I got into bartending for the tips, the

music and, to be honest, the social life, I was keenly interested in the nerdier side of the drinks industry. Every shift I would pick a new drink I had read about and set about re-creating the best possible version. I would research the origins of the martini, source obscure bitters to make Sazeracs and experiment with Scotches when making whisky sours. I loved reading about the stories behind drinks and retelling them to guests, who either yawned, ordered the drink I was describing or tipped. Luckily for me, it was usually the latter two.

DAIQUIRI IN A MUDDLE Here is where the daiquiri and I crossed paths once again. While frozen daiquiris were the cocktail of choice for their parents, the ‘pretty young things’ that came into my bar were drinking ‘stick’ drinks, cocktails in vogue on the back of the capiroska’s popularity. These consisted of a heap of fresh fruit muddled and served as a mashed up, boozy fruit salad. But the daiquiri was in all of the books I read and kept popping up in other tomes pertaining to famous boozehounds like Hemingway and the Kennedys — so I wanted to know all about it.

To my amazement the daiquiri was and is one of the most organically created drinks around. Its basic formula is a timetested recipe that many others are compared too and the ingredients are simple, fresh, local and in easy-to-follow ratios.

When made properly, this is one of the best ways to use rum in a cocktail. So different from the quasi-frappés I was accustomed too. A real traditional daiquiri only consists of three ingredients but it is in the minimal components wherein a great story lies. While there are a multitude of variations — not including the frozen versions — the classic daiquiri is simply made up of Cuban light rum, fresh lime juice and sugar.

This combo produces a flavour profile that’s light yet sharp, full bodied yet floral and has a great balance of sweet and sour — a drink perfectly suited to the climes of Noosa Heads or better yet, the beaches around Santiago, Cuba.

FRESH MANGO DAIQUIRI 60ml Bacardi Superior 30ml fresh lime juice 15ml sugar syrup (white sugar dissolved in water – equal parts) ½ fresh mango Muddle/mash the mango until pulpy Add the remaining ingredients Shake well with ice Strain out into a cocktail glass Garnish with a lime wheel – resort style.

CUBE LIBRA In 1898 Cuba was ‘liberated’ from Spain by the United States in the Spanish-American War. From then until Mr Castro and Mr Guevara came into the picture, Americans flocked to the neighbouring island for both holiday and industry. Almost straight away The Spanish American Iron Co. set up shop around Santiago and created an iron-ore mine just out of town. The legend goes that during one session at a bar in Santiago called Venus, engineer and General Manager of the mining company Jennings Cox, created the daiquiri for a visiting group of executives.

It’s also been said that Cox and his cohorts only got the bartender to mix their concoction because they had run out of gin (picture a rowdy bunch of yanks pestering the barkeep with their ‘special’ recipe). But this is where I’m dubious.

Mixing rum and lime had been a given since the British Royal Navy rationed their daily dose of rum with lime to sailors to ward off scurvy, and that was in 1795. The addition of sugar for balance just makes sense. What makes even more sense is to use the local drop in said libation. Cuban rum, particularly the lighter styles are some of the best in the world. In fact, Bacardi, now only Cuban in style is one of the world’s biggest selling alcohol brands.

It’s not hard to imagine that these American engineers, a long way from home and their normal drops, would out of necessity — over preference — mix some local ingredients for their ‘knock offs’. Sugar from local plantations, lime juice from the countryside and white rum made from the by-product of making sugar.

That said, the drink didn’t gain any notoriety until an Admiral Lucius W. Johnson, a U.S. Navy medical officer tried it.

He introduced it to the Army and Navy Club in Washington DC where it became a favoured drink of ranking servicemen and politicians alike. In fact, supposedly JFK loved them and drank them as an aperitif, even sipping one during the count on his way to winning the 1960 election.

RUM VARIATIONS The drink has come a long way. When it changed from a simple rum sipper to an oversized fruity slushy is not known, but experiments with the daiquiri, notwithstanding fruit coolies, can be lots of fun.

A couple of classic variants that are popular with bartenders are the Hemingway daiquiri; consisting of rum, lime, grapefruit juice and maraschino liqueur; and a Mulatto daiquiri, with dark rum and dark crème de cacao. Hemingway is probably the most famous of daiquiri drinkers. So much so that he was great mates with all the bartenders in Cuba and had a page of daiquiris dedicated to him at the famous El Floridita bar in Havana.

I have personally made all sorts of variations; simple twists such as a variety with spices thrown in are fun. Also adaptations with varying rums are interesting; rich dark Jamaican rums, light vegetal Martinique rums, even a ‘robust’ Australian version with Bundy.

My favourite version though is alarmingly similar to the drinks I used to detest while working cafés back in Noosa.

Not a melted blended drink, but a fresh, simple version using quality ingredients and real fruit. A classic daiquiri; sharp lime, aromatic sweet sugar and some fine bracing Cuban light rum, with the addition of some slightly over ripe fresh seasonal fruit, in this case mango cheeks. Hence, the mango daiquiri that 10 years ago I hated, has become one of my favourite cocktails.

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BEGUILING ARGYLE The Argyle: 18 Argyle Street, The Rocks, Sydney NSW (02) 9247 5500 or www.theargylerocks.com

“We wanted something a bit more New York, something that Sydney hadn’t seen before”

Story: Joanna Lowry

V 30

enue entrepreneur John Szangolies and interior designer Rachel Luchetti of Luchetti Krelle have enjoyed a fruitful relationship. They’ve rolled out a number of successful Bavarian Bier Cafés and the recently ‘hatted’ Sake restaurant and bar. It makes sense, then, that when it came to renovating The Argyle — Szangolies’ biggest and busiest venue — Luchetti was poised to take the helm. Luchetti’s overhaul treads a fine, cobblestone line between the old and new. “She helped us accent the historic aspects that make The Argyle so special by incorporating modern elements,” Szangolies says. Intact still are the sandstone walls and exposed timber awnings of what is a heritage building in The Rocks, but gone are the bulky booths and banquettes — and the brown-on-brown colour scheme.

First on the agenda was Bazar, a Spanish tapas restaurant. “The vision for Argyle Bazar was to have a more casual dining option in the precinct, allowing guests to move seamlessly from a light dinner to a night out,” Szangolies says. Luchetti set out to make the industrial, caramelcoloured space fun and relaxed. “We wanted to inject colour and give it a contemporary feel,” she says. “It was also fairly masculine and we wanted to make it a bit more feminine.” The photo print pendant lights — which depict topiary mazes, hydrangeas, leaves, chandeliers and jewels — certainly add a girly touch. “We were inspired by the idea of the absurd,” Rachel explains.

“We were doing the refurbishment at the time that Tim Burton’s remake of Alice in Wonderland came out. The printed lampshades are a little bit quirky and unexpected.”

Then there’s the furniture — a mishmash of patchwork seats, leopard print bar stools and Louis armchairs, all featuring velvet upholstery. “A lot of people think that you can’t have softness in a venue like this, but you can; you just have to maintain it,” Luchetti says. “All of the seat cushions are made of a Crypton fabric, which makes them durable and resistant to liquid.” Bar and dining tables are painted white to lighten up the dim space, while a smattering of blue and red side tables add visual interest.

CONTACTS Luchetti Krelle: (02) 9699 3425 or www.luchettikrelle.com Hughes Commercial Furniture (Furniture): 1800 242 479 or www.hughescf.com.au Ke-zu (Furniture): (02) 9669 1788 or www.kezu.com.au Café Culture (Succulents): (02) 9699 8577 or www.cafeculture.com.au Wombat Hollow (Drizabone/Potato Basket Lights): (02) 4888 2011 or www.wombathollow.net.au Edit (Custom Photo Print Pendants): (02) 9358 5806 or www.edit-group.com.au Interstudio (Tables): 1300 785 199 or www.interstudio.com.au Stylecraft (Twig Seating System): (02) 9355 0000 or www.stylecraft.com.au Doug Up On Bourke (Furniture): (02) 9690 0962 or www.douguponbourke.com.au Thonet (Furniture): (02) 9322 1600 or www.thonet.com.au Boyd Blue (Furniture): (02) 9331 0099 or www.boydblue.com Bellstone (Bathroom Tiles): 1800 663 235 or www.bellstone.com.au WK Marble and Granite (Marble Table Tops): (02) 9772 9888 or www.wk.com.au

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MAKING THE CUT Upstairs from Bazar is Belvedere, a VIP vodka bar, which takes design cues from the ice hotel concept. A polyethylene ‘Twig’ seating system by Stylecraft is covered by faux fur rugs and, Luchetti tells me, at night, it glows in the dark. “It’s really quite a spectacular effect,” she says.

The effect is also seen in The Argyle’s alfresco courtyard area, where Luchetti planted succulents in oversized, phosphorescent pots.

Perhaps Luchetti’s biggest challenge was in transforming an idle cellar into a high-theatre steakhouse. “The brief for The Cut was to create a steakhouse with a twist,” Luchetti says.

“We wanted something a bit more New York, something that Sydney hadn’t seen before.” The subterranean space avoids being “dark and dingy” thanks to a specially commissioned lighting system and the fitout is eclectic, juxtaposing glam, clubby elements with a rustic, outback aesthetic. “We’ve got feathered lampshades, splashes of pink and turquoise, gold banquettes and curved armchairs with stud detailing,” Luchetti says. “But then we’ve got Drizabone raincoats and upside down potato baskets as lampshades, and the cutlery boxes are old ammunition boxes.” There’s also a large-scale black and white wall graphic by Zoe Sadokierski, which depicts a bookshelf full of old English texts, a nod to the colonial history of The Argyle building. As for the steakhouse theme, it was more than subtly referenced — butchers’ blocks are used as dining tables and meat cleavers have been welded into toilet cubicle doors — killer!

The attention to detail wasn’t without its costs. “If the ideas are there, John will find the money to make it happen,” Luchetti says. “It’s nice to have a client who respects the design.” Szangolies said he’s “really pleased” with the refurbishment. “After five years, The Argyle was ready for a new look,” he said. “We’ve really brightened and refreshed the venue.”

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CONTACTS Six Degrees: (03) 9635 6000 or www.sixdegrees.com.au Right Angle Studio (Lost & Found Book): (03) 9417 0003 or www.rightangle Grandfathers Axe (Restored Furniture): 0413 583 499 or www.grandfathersaxe.com.au Aesop (Beauty Products): www.aesop.net.au Ffixxed (Floor Rugs): www.ffixxed.com Utopian Slumps (Art): (03) 9077 9918 or info@utopianslumps.com Monsieur Truffe (Chocolates): (03) 9416 3101 or monsieurtruffe@hotmail.com

TOA Type H Column Line Array Controlled dispersion helps to achieve constant sound levels in the room, while at the same time avoiding problematic areas. Being only 84mm wide these speakers will provide high quality, discreet audio, in a slim-line, stylish package.

Cost-efficient, high quality audio solutions for a variety of installations, including: • • • • •

Houses of Worship Function Centres Boardrooms Lecture Halls Auditoriums

Mud (Tableware): (03) 9419 5161 or www.mudaustralia.com Dedece (Lighting): (03) 9650 9600 or www.dedece.com Thonet (Furniture): (03) 9417 0077 or www.thonet.com.au Cecilia Fox (Flowers): melanie@ceciliafox.com.au CIBI (Japanese wares): (03) 9077 3941 or info@cibi.com.au Daniel Barbera (Circular Table): 0419 889 285 or hello@barberadesign.com Plumm (Glassware): 1300 780 124 or www.plumm.com Mr Kitly: mrkittly@mrkittly.com.au Living Edge (Lighting): (03) 9009 3940 or www.livingedge.com.au Humble Vintage (Bikes): 0432 032 450 or hire@thehumblevintage.com Magnation (Reading Material): (03) 9663 6559 or www.magnation.com World Food Books (Books): 0432 988 981 or worldfoodbooks@gmail.com Shelly Panton (Pottery): (03) 9537 0737 or info@shelleypanton.com St Albans Textiles (Throw Rugs): (03) 9544 7533 or www.stalbans.com.au

Four Models Available 1. SRH2L - Short (668mm) straight column with zero degrees vertical dispersion at higher frequencies.

2. SRH2S – (Short 663mm) curved column with zero degrees vertical dispersion at higher frequencies at the top and 20 degrees dispersion at the bottom.

3. SRH3L - Long (1186mm) straight column with zero degrees vertical dispersion at higher frequencies.

4. SRH3S – Long (1177mm) curved column with zero degrees vertical dispersion at higher frequencies at the top and 20 degrees dispersion at the bottom.

FOR YOUR NEAREST DEALER: AUSTRALIA: Call 1300 13 44 00 or visit www.toa.com.au NEW ZEALAND: Call 0800 111 450 or visit www.toa.co.nz

Nicholas Gardner (Pot Plants): nicholasgardnerstudio@gmail.com Dal Zotto (Wine): (03) 5729 8321 or www.dalzotto.com.au Yarra Valley Dairy (Cheese): (03) 9739 0023 or mail@yvd.com.au Dawn Press (Print): info@dawn-press.com

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The Lost & Found Hotel Room tells a story of Melbourne’s creative and cultural nous.

From the ground up, the entire room is kitted out with products from Melbourne. Being a multicultural city, there are of course a few international ring-ins, but with local distribution roots. But for the most part, from designers Six Degrees, to the Yarra Valley Dairy cheese, the one-of-a-kind hotel room is quintessentially Melbourne.

The story behind Lost & Found goes like this: Right Angle Studio, the publisher of the Lost & Found online guide to Melbourne decided to showcase local creative talent in a more tangible way. Now, each year they find a space and enlist the services of a designer, this year Six Degrees, to fashion it into a habitable apartment-style hotel room. And for the mere price of an email address, subscribers to the online guide can petition to make the hotel room their own for a night or three.

The open plan space has magnificent windows looking out to the GPO building, and is directly above the Captains of Industry café and outfitters. You’d be hard pressed to find a better interior location to experience Melbourne’s CBD. “We wanted to create something that was different to the space people inhabit in their everyday lives, to enjoy a unique experience in the heart of Melbourne. It was also important to give the room a sense of history and transience,” said Mark Healy, Director of Six Degrees.

And there’s no real chance of getting lost with a dedicated concierge on hand. And as it happens, the concierge writes for the Lost & Found publication, making them a one-stop shop for Melbourne’s cultural caches.

The contributing supplier’s would be too numerous to write about in detail, so we’ve listed them instead.

LOST & FOUND AGAIN Lost & Found: Level 2, 2 Somerset Place, Melbourne VIC wwww.wearelostandfound.com.au

THIS BIG!

The Atlantic restaurant is off and sailing. With an entrepreneur, seafood supplier, builder and chef on board, the ship is stable and ready to tackle the big fish.

Story: Mark Davie

The Atlantic: Crown Entertainment Complex 8 Whiteman St, Southbank VIC (03) 9698 8888 or www.theatlantic.com.au

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asinos love a ruse: gondolas navigating the internal canals of a counterfeit Venice to promote romance, or lighting that never advances from day to night but always teeters on a faux twilight. So it figures that the seafood window display at Crown Casino’s newest restaurant, The Atlantic — with a full-sized tuna swarmed on either side by a school of bream — must be a sham. It just looks too real. But, you'd be wrong. Not only are the fish real, they’re fresh as an Atlantic Ocean breeze.

It helps when one of the owners of the restaurant is also partowner of seafood supplier Clamms. Con Andronis is the best person to have onboard if your manifesto is ‘ocean to plate’. Even over Easter, a time Andronis says, when the fishermen “hold back big time”, he said it matters little to the 300-seater, oceandependent restaurant. “With the type of menu that we run, it doesn’t matter what’s available, we don’t rely on anything. Whatever’s available, we’ll change [the menu] daily.” Each day chef Donovan Cooke gets the freshest fish that comes through the door of Clamms. And whatever comes in he cooks. Each day can result in a completely different menu. “We don’t rely on, ‘you must get this or that for me’,” said Con. “Whatever is available, he’s cool, which is a really nice position to be in.”

THE CREW The other owners are no slouches either. Hatem Saleh is an entrepreneur who owned the original Atlantic restaurant before he and the Atlantic Group took over Central Pier at Docklands.

Now he’s come full circle and had the chance to re-visit his past.

“It’s a completely different ball game,” said Hatem of the new Atlantic. Whereas the previous Atlantic was an 80-seater with white rendered walls and white tablecloths on the site of an old bank building, the new one seats 300, is full of seaworthy colours, textures and decorative touches, and has a luxurious basement bar with grand piano. “In terms of business,” said Hatem.

“The more practice you have, the better you get, the more mistakes you make the better you get. We’ve had lots of practice and made lots of mistakes. The feedback’s been great. We’ve had several people come in two or three times already and each time, from the first time to the last, they’ve said it just gets better and better. We’re doing all the right things early on in the piece.”

Tony Schiavello also owns a third of The Atlantic Group, which makes the choice of builder easy enough. The founder and chairman of building company Schiavello, Tony also owns a vineyard with his sons called Gioiello Estate, which provides some award winning Chardonnay to The Atlantic as well as other varieties.

Tony also makes his own cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil, produced more in a family and friends quantity than something you’ll see on a table at The Atlantic. But it demonstrates his commitment to the finer foods of life. Having a place to take clients was also a bit of an incentive for Tony, and Atlantic suits his needs to a ‘t’.

The last piece of the puzzle is of course chef Donovan Cooke, who is the executive chef of the Atlantic Group. Cooke was most recently executive chef of the prestigious Hong Kong Jockey

Club before being lured back by the prospect of The Atlantic.

“If you’re going to do the most amazing fitout and give people the most amazing experience,” said Hatem. “You need to accompany that with the most amazing person in the kitchen. We couldn’t think of anyone better.”

LEASING THE REINS There was a bit of a tussle over the lease before Atlantic moved into Crown. Nick Zampelis’ Waterfront and Café Greco restaurants were ousted from the spot, unceremoniously and a bit early according to the Zampelis Group’s reading of their lease.

But it was a turf war that the Atlantic Group had nothing to do with, according to Hatem. “All we know is that we were invited to tender for a space that was available. We tendered, we won, and we’re here. We haven’t been involved in whatever has happened between the previous tenant and Crown. They’re opening up again down the road, so good luck to them.”

As part of the tender process, the Atlantic Group decided to pitch Crown the idea of combining the two spaces into one. The lengthy tenancy isn’t out of the norm though; next door the Terzini-operated Guiseppe Arnaldo & Sons also occupies an elongated piece of Crown’s retail arcade, itself a relatively recent addition and part of the new direction for Crown’s F&B. TITANIC EFFORT The Atlantic’s design is a mash-up between the haughty dining culture of a cruise liner’s upper deck and the ‘steampunk’ bared services below. A fusion of Kate and Leo’s worlds aboard the Titanic, moored at a steamy Chicago fish market. As with the other Atlantic Group venues, Conrad Manolidis of Blackmilk Design was behind this design. And it seems as though he’s had quite a bit of fun with it.

It’s a 300-seat restaurant that operates more like ten 30-seaters, defined neatly by glass, screens and floor heights to create a series of private dining rooms with nautical names like ‘The Cabins’ and ‘The Engine Room’ loosely inscribed in silicone on the dividing glass doors. “Being such a large restaurant, my brief from the client was to make it intimate,” said Conrad. “The glass screens make it flexible. Once we get further into the restaurant a lot of the screens fold back, or slide across, to close off and create many flexible spaces. Somebody also said that with the use of all the glass there’s a sense of murkiness you get when you look through water, which was unintentional on my part, but one of the by-products that’s worked really well.”

Turning a large part of The Atlantic floor plan into functiontype dining fits well with the Atlantic Group’s modus operandi.

And to take the Titanic metaphor one step further, barring exceptional circumstance should help the behemoth keep its head above water. “There’s a big demand for private dining spaces around Melbourne and Crown,” said Conrad. “This is a response to that need as well.

“The initial concept was New York meat-packers/street fishmarket,” said Conrad. Singling out weathered timbers, vintage paintings and photographs, and incorporating elements of the

SOUNDS OF THE ATLANTIC Hatem and Con knew that the music at The Atlantic would have to be unique to match their vision of New York. They believed that music in restaurants didn’t have to be blaring foreground or elevator music, it could be a DJ style mix of French House, cool Soul with the element of surprise thrown in. So they invested in a system that worked.

Digital Living and Nightlife Music worked with the Atlantic Group to devise a system and music format that could match the restaurant’s total sound solution. Downstairs in The Den, DJs are used on Friday and Saturday nights, which gives that intimate New York cellar bar feel. While upstairs the music and sound levels are pre-programmed by Digital Living and Nightlife’s Cafe French, Soul Beats and other matched lists.

As you’d expect from a 300-seater there are a

whopping 10 zones in total. “We put a lot of time into room tuning and making sure the music was clear and comfortable during dining,” said Matt Price from digital Living. “Not some bellowing music that everyone had to turn down.” There is a highspec Martin system downstairs in the Den. While upstairs it’s an entire QSC system, a collection of in-ceiling and surface mount speakers, and QSC amplifiers connected to an Allen & Heath DSP unit.

“The pre-programmed system is all managed through the Allen & Heath processor,” said Matt. “It’s scheduled to come on at the start of the day and to shut off at night, deliberately limiting the amount of control required by the staff. The Oyster Bar is the only area with a user interface they use regularly to change from end of lunch service to cocktail hours, with a personalized control for the DJ.”

CONTACTS Digital Living (Audio Install): 1300 336 257 or www.digitalliving.com.au

Nightlife (Music Programming): 1800 679 748 or www.nightlife.com.au

Technical Audio Group (Audio Supplier): (02) 9519 0900 or www.tag.com.au

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CONTACTS 1

Rugs Carpet By Design (Feature Rugs & Carpet): (03) 9428 6223 or www.rc-d.com.au Laminex Group (Timber Veneers): 1800 002 204 or www.thelaminexgroup.com.au New Age Veneers (Table Tops & General Joinery): (02) 9457 9622 or www.newageveneers.com.au

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Schiavello (The Den Upholstered Furniture): 1300 130 980 or ww.schiavello.com

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Bisque Interiors (Table): (02) 6658 0699 or www.bisqueinteriors.com.au

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Jardan (Flynn Tables): (03) 9548 8866 or www.jardan.com.au

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Café Culture (Miami Bar Stool): (02) 9699 8577 or www.cafeculture.com.au

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traditional Persian rug into the carpet, but with more of a homely feel, as contributing to the theme. “The staircase is industrial bluestone, and along with weathered timbers are finishes typical of the meat-packing district. We achieved the two-tone blue timbers by using matte and gloss so there’s that shimmer you see over the water. It’s also trying to emulate the sea-shore — it’s a little reminiscent of what you might see in the sand.”

It’s not all serious, dark and steamy, in fact there’s a whole collection of quirky graphics designed by 21-19 — on the menus and toilet doors are a collection of old photographs of depression-era men and women with fish heads replacing their own. There are steam and pressure valves, pipes and wheels everywhere, and even the carpet has a couple of characters running around on it. “We’ve got crabs running out to the toilets; pink for the women’s and the blue for the men’s. And we’ve got the cow —representing the steak offering — with a snorkel.” Just so it’s not out of place on the ocean floor I assume. … SOMETHING NEW, SOMETHING BORROWED… The homage to New York took a twist when a year into the project Conrad, Hatem and Con set off on a fact-finding mission to the Big Apple itself. Upon their return the three made changes to some 40 percent of the design. As Conrad put it, in inadvertent Yoda vernacular, “So much inspiration, New York, there was.” When they took the design back to Crown it wasn’t a problem. And when the idea of doing a bar sometime down the track was floated, Crown said no, that they couldn’t wait that long and would throw in a slice of the underground carpark for The Den, The Atlantic’s basement bar.

According to Conrad, “The Den is like a New York apartment where you imagine you’ve had people over the years add or leave pieces behind and even to the modern day with graffiti on the walls. We’ve selected items that might have been left behind by somebody at the turn of the century and then things left behind in the ’50s or ’70s.”

THE COOKE There are two kitchens on site, one downstairs as back up, and the main event happening out in the open on the main floor. If the window display didn’t catch your attention on the way in, then the iced bed of fresh oysters waiting to be shucked at the entrance should tip you off to the ocean-fare menu. Barely have you to set foot aboard The Atlantic and you’ve already witnessed some of the freshest seafood around — and that’s with the Melbourne Aquarium just across the river!

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CONTACTS 1

Aplico Services (Timber Finish): (03) 9931 1156

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South Pacific Fabrics (Ground Floor Curtains): (02) 9327 7222 or www.southpacificfabrics.com Zenith Interiors (Outdoor Dining Table): (03) 9693 2600 or www.zenithinteriors.com.au

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Classic Lite (Miracle Single Downlight): (03) 9421 2911 or www.classiclite.com.au Libertine Chandeliers (Feature Pendants): (03) 9391 7410

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Jan Flook (Macrame): 0400 044 176 21-19 (Graphics): (03) 9417 3111 or info@21-19.com

And if, like me, you’re unsure about whether or not those display fish are truly real, just hold on a minute. Every so often, one of the chefs appears in the window to engage in some fancy filleting. And if that’s not enough, there’s a table positioned right on the edge of the coolroom called The Fishbowl for those that want the smells and sounds to go with the view. From prime position, not only will you get an education, but freshly prepared meals by your very own personal chef.

And if you can’t afford to be part of the spectacle, you can definitely watch. Almost one quarter of the first floor is dedicated to Donovan Cooke’s open kitchen. And running down its considerable length is a super-stretch stove, full of every type of cooktop you could imagine. It was custom-designed for Cooke, and as there is none other like it, has been dubbed ‘The Donovan Cooke’.

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FISHING FOR DETAIL The hostesses at The Atlantic are immaculately clad in smart grey dresses, and the men in suits hand-picked by Hatem in his native Egypt. They were held up by the riots, but arrived in the nick of time for the opening. It’s the dedication to ideas like that — and not just settling for local Roger David outfits — that makes The Atlantic so compelling.

“Attention to detail and perfection is so important,” says Hatem as he finesses a couple of hanging pendants a few millimetres, bringing the importance he places on each piece into focus. “Light affects the total dining experience.”

And now that the Atlantic Group has its mega-restaurant, mega-function centres, pub and pizzeria, what’s next? When I mention the idea of a hotel, you can tell by the glint in Hatem’s eye that it’s something he’s spent many nights thinking about, forcibly restraining his entrepreneurial urges from pursuing the idea with abandon. “I stress the words again ‘attention to detail’,” says Hatem. “We don’t like just going off and doing the next one without getting the first one right. So it’s pretty important for us that each business we produce is spot on. Then as time goes on and other opportunities present themselves, we’ll see.”

Next stop, Atlantic City.

CONTACTS Blackmilk Interior Design: (03) 9429 3328 or www.blackmilk.com.au Schiavello (Construction): 1300 130 980 or www.schiavello.com

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SEE THE LIGHT venue’s lighting special explores all aspects of

hospitality illumination with some of Australia’s best lighting designers. We check out the latest technologies, explore the gamut of light sources, delve into top lighting designs and receive some enlightenment from designers about lighting for today and the future.

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Previous page:

Cable Jewellery

Wow Shades

Volker Haug: (03) 9415 9636 or www.volkerhaug.com

Sizes: Wow, Mini Mega and Mega Wow

SWANKY LIGHTS

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Volker Haug: (03) 9415 9636 or www.volkerhaug.com

Tolomeo Mega Terra Floor Lamp

Weaver Pendant

Finish: Black and polished aluminium

Material: Nylon rope

Price: $1750

Dimensions: 550mm (H) & 270mm (D)

Artemide: 1300 135 709 or info@artemide.com.au

Colours: red or black Satelight: (03) 9399 5805 or info@satelight.com.au

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Clockwise from top left:

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Facet Pendant

Tom Dixon Beat

Moooi Emperor Suspension Light

Made in Australia

Materials: Brass with black external lacquer

Material: Powder-coated steel

Sizes: Tall, Fat, Wide & Stout

Materials: Bamboo and rattan, aluminium frame and glass diffuser

Autumn Products: 0407 952 643 or contact@autumnproducts.com.au

Also available in high gloss powder coat

Colours: Red or black

Dedece: (02) 9360 2722 or www.dedece.com

Designer: Neri & Hu Price: $1900 Space: (02) 9667 8200 or www.spacefurniture.com

Cumulus

Water2water

Eden Design Sphere

Cosmic Landscape

Tasmanian Oak frame with muslin shade

Designed in collaboration with Michael McCann from Dreamtime Australia.

Material: Moulded ABS plastic

Materials: Injection-moulded methacrylate Lamps: Fluorescent or LED

Diameters: 460mm, 660mm & 860mm

Dimensions: 1220mm diameter

Diameters: 900mm, 1400mm & 1780mm

Materials: 110 Glass water bottles, brass metal, plated in mirror-polished chrome.

Light Source: 1-4 standard light bulbs or circular fluorescent

Price: from $1674

Light source: 4 x 35W, 12V, MR11

Ke-zu: (02) 9669 1788 or www.kezu.com.au

Enoki: (08) 8271 5500 or www.enoki.com.au

Diffuse: (02) 8399 3899 or www.diffuse.com.au

Variations: Table, wall, suspension or ceiling Artemide: 1300 135 709 or info@artemide.com.au

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Boring But Important Light Sources — Choosing Your Weapons Story: Andy Ciddor

“Your rich brown leather furniture looks a dingy pooey grey-brown and your skin looks like you’re already dead from anaemia”

Today’s exciting new greener, more energyefficient and longer lasting light sources bring with them the usual balance of gains and pains that we have come to associate with the introduction of every new technology. So let’s take a brief look at the balance sheets for a few old and new technology light sources to see where we’ve been and where we’re heading now.

but some of the more expensive units can be dimmed with the right kind of architectural dimming systems. It is possible to spend quite a bit more money on fluorescent lamps that have almost the same good colour characteristics as incandescent lamps.

However, while this type is still very long-lived, they’re nowhere near as energy efficient as the ugly cold, greenish ones.

Candles Along with their cousin the oil/kerosene/tallow lamp, candles were civilization’s main light sources for almost all of human history, and continue to occupy an interesting and hallowed place in our collective consciousness. Even if you have the latest in bleeding-edge light source technology around your venue, there’s a pretty good chance that it will exist side-by-side with candles whose technological origins are lost in the mists of time. One of the main aesthetic attractions of candlelight is that its very warm colour produces flattering skin tones on those in its vicinity. From its prized position on the table between diners, the candle also flatters by bringing its light from below the subject’s eyeline, camouflaging the laugh lines, crow’s-feet and other evidence of the passage of time. By burning oils and fats, candles and torches produce the full visible spectrum of light, unlike most modern technologies, but they are horrendously inefficient and also introduce smoke, soot and exhaust gases (mostly carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide) into the environment.

LEDs The Light Emitting Diode is a solid-state device that very efficiently produces a single colour of light, and so long as you keep it cool, will continue do so for a very, very long time. Getting anything that even remotely resembles the full spectrum of white light from an LED source requires quite a bit of optical gymnastics. Most ‘white’ LED sources combine the output from a pure blue LED with some yellow or orange fluorescence in the coating. The result looks white, only until you shine it on coloured things like people and furnishings, at which point your rich brown leather furniture looks a dingy pooey grey-brown and your skin looks like you’re already dead from anaemia. Good quality white LED light fixtures frequently include extra red LEDs that try to fill some of the holes in the colour spectrum, and really good LED systems can include as many as seven different colours of LED chip so that colours look almost natural.

Individual LEDs are not very bright and they also get quite hot while they’re running, so packing a bunch of LED chips into a small container requires some diligent attention to cooling if the LEDs are to run for even a reasonable fraction of their possible lifetime. Good LED light sources have plenty of heatsink fins and often include a cooling fan that may die long before the LEDs and thus shorten their life anyway. LEDs dim quite well with the right type of special purpose LED dimmer.

Incandescent Lamps The humble incandescent light bulb which did an OK job for the first century and a quarter of electric lighting, was initially less energy efficient than the gas lighting it replaced, but it was so much simpler and safer to use that it won that battle and went on to become a reasonably efficient light source. Whatever else you may hear, there are still plenty of high-efficiency filament lamps out there that meet Australia’s energy efficiency standards. The only bulbs that don’t comply are the old-style general purpose household globes in the 40 to 150W range, which are no longer on sale. Essentially, if you can buy a lamp, then it meets the statutory efficiency requirements. The unique advantages that these lamps have over other sources are that they are both easily dimmable and produce the entire visible spectrum of light, so they show colours accurately.

Fluorescent Lamps Both the back-of-house linear fluoro tube and its more modern, folded-up (‘compact’) descendents are very energy efficient; living long, bright and cheerful lives. However, the efficient way they produce light generally tends to over-emphasise the colour green and even the ‘warm-white’ fluorescent is missing some of the warmer yellow, orange and red parts of the spectrum, making them less cosy and warm and less likely to correctly display the warm tones in the décor and the customer’s skin. The linear tubes can be dimmed quite nicely if you pair them with the right kind of electronic ballast unit and an appropriate ballast controller. The compact versions with their builtin ballasts are mostly not dimmable on a normal household dimmer,

Discharge Gas discharge lamps are very energy-efficient and have been around a very long time lighting streets, warehouses, rail yards and car parks.

Most of them produce light in such large amounts and such limited colours, that they are totally unacceptable for general purpose lighting. However, the metal halide family of discharge sources do produce a range of colours that are good enough to use for lots of things, including sports arenas, shopping centres, foyers, atriums and similar large spaces. More recently they have been scaled down to the point where metal halide is a good, efficient and reasonably well behaved source for architectural lighting and is widely used as the sources inside the moving lights found in clubs, studios and dance venues. Discharge sources are very difficult to dim directly and usually have to be controlled with shutters and other kinds of mechanical dimming systems.

When selecting light sources you have to chose between, brightness, energy efficiency, long-life, colour accuracy, dimmability, purchase price, consumables prices and maintenance cost. It’s way more complex than the usual good/fast/cheap decision matrix, but at least you know some questions to ask your consultant.

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To learn more about our other stylish outdoor heating solutions visit www.bromicheating.com or email info@bromicheating.com

VISIT WWW.BROMICHEATING.COM EMAIL INFO@BROMICHEATING.COM

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Retro Fits Fluoro

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Serge and Robert Cornelissen designed the Jet series around the idea of not seeing the light fitting, only the light. The organic shaped recessed spotlight has smooth edges and is designed to be integrated into suspended plasterboard ceilings. The double layer plate of Moltoflex material has CNC-milled softened contours, is heat, shock and fire resistant, and is light-weight and shatterproof. There are four types of Jet, ranging in shape from circular to long slits, with a range of light sources and power ratings for lighting at different times of the day.

LED retro-fit fluorescent tubes are now available to slot into your existing fluorescent fittings. Not only are they available in different colour temperatures, they use substantially less power, have a 70% greater lamp life and have many other benefits on offer. Flicker free operation means less headaches and sore eyes, and they do not emit ultra-violet light that attracts annoying flying insects. Air conditioning costs will go down as your air-con will not be compensating for the heat produced by fluoros and downlights. No more continual lamp changing and fluoro starter maintenance.

Lumen 8 Architectural Lighting: (07) 3254 4122 or www.lumen-8.com.au

Industry Gear: (02) 9718 4900 or sales@industrygear.com.au

LitePads

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LitePads are a low voltage LED fitting with a colour temperature of 5500K or 3800K. Rosco recently completed a custom LitePad installation for Dior’s new flagship retail outlet in New York. The installation consisted of 480 LitePads ranging in size from 34cm x 30cm through to 1.2m x 60cm. Some of the LitePads were laminated with Cinegel 1/8 Blue filters to create the perfect colour for Dior. LitePads have a rating of IP61, however they can be manufactured to IP67.

Each LitePad is supplied with a 240V-12V DC transformer, and dimmers are available. Virtually any shape can be manufactured.

Rosco Australia: (02) 9906-6262 or asmith@rosco.com

Clipsal LED Downlight

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With 12W LED power (equivalent to 50W dichroic), Clipsal LED downlights offer 50,000 hours lamp life and are compatible with Clipsal dimmers (including C-Bus). In addition, they have a low recess depth of 76.5mm, contain integrated thermal management — ensuring the quoted lifespan of the downlight — and are supplied complete with a 92mm gimble kit in white or brushed chrome. Available in cool or warm white and 60 or 35-degree options for any commercial application.

Clipsal: 1300 202 525 or www.clipsal.com

Architectural Lighting: Are you down with downlights?

D900 Cube LED Downlight

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Brightgreen’s D900 Cube LED downlight won best new product at DesignEx 2011. Brightgreen is the only producer of halogen–equivalent LED downlights in Australia, using only one fifth of the energy of a standard 50W halogen globe and lasting for 30 years. The D900 is the world’s first square-beamed downlight — eliminating overlap, requiring fewer lights and allowing light beams to fill corners. The D900 Cube is also UV Free, 100% compatible with all dimmers and has no fire risk.

Brightgreen: 1300 672 499 or www.brightgreen.net.au

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State Theatre Centre of Western Australia: 174-176 William Street, Perth WA (08) 6212 9200 or www.statetheatrecentrewa.com.au

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T

he State Theatre Centre of Western Australia is home to the 575-seat Heath Ledger Theatre and the 234-seat Studio Underground theatre. But rather than focusing on the exquisite theatres themselves, this article will confine itself to the public areas, and perhaps sneak a peak at the rest rooms. Paying careful attention to the distribution of brightness across the whole building is key to a successful design approach according to Paul Beale and Rachel Burke of Electrolight. “We aimed to paint with light in three dimensions to direct attention to various surfaces and create a considered sense of drama and dynamic.”

So before getting down to the nitty gritty of selecting individual fittings Electrolight considered the techniques that allowed the appropriate distribution of light. These included: Wallwashing: the creation of bright vertical surfaces allows attention to be drawn over distance.

Light on people: creating the effect of ‘stages’ that mimic the drama from the theatre.

Reflection: allows light to be infused within the architecture.

Integration: allows for a coherent relationship between light, form and space. Avoiding lighting solutions that are ‘tacked on’.

Colour: colour temperatures and appropriate filters that respond to the colour palette of the architectural finishes and ensure a cohesive scheme.

THE BRONZE BOX “The Bronze Box is an impressive scattering of gilded bronze pipes of different lengths extending from the ceiling of the main entry foyer and staircase. The pipes at the edges of the foyer continue to the floor creating a broken screen that filters the strong natural light that penetrates the fullheight windows. Column-mounted uplights provide light to the installation creating glints and shadows. The lighting of this element is crucial to both the external appearance of the building and the internal experience for patrons.

“KHA and Electrolight worked together to create an irregular array of domed gold buttons that are scattered over the ceiling surface between the pipes. These small domes catch the light and create a sparkling illusion of additional light sources by virtue of their highly-reflective polished surface.

They function as an integrated sculptural element that creates a theatrical trompe l’oeil of light.”

UNDERGROUND STUDIO BAR “The Underground Studio Bar is the focal point of the foyer, as such, the surrounding areas are being lit to comparatively lower levels. The white, curved ceiling element above the Studio foyer visually extends the space towards Level One. This ceiling feature is subtly lit from its lower edge to accentuate the curve with custom-designed white cold cathode lighting. The colour temperature is 4000K, which lifts the white surface and provides a dramatic contrast with the warm light emanating from the adjacent Bronze Box. “The lift doors provide another highlight with concealed narrow halogen dichroic downlights providing a pattern of light in the hairline stainless steel surface. Artworks on the walls of the Studio foyer are individually lit with a wallmount spotlighting system. And the flexibility of the lighting system allows for adaption as exhibitions are rotated through the space.”

REST ROOMS “The lighting to the rest rooms was designed with the same degree of care as the rest of the facility.

The scheme provides a softly-lit elegance and responds to the warm tan and gold colour scheme.

Lighting is integrated with the architectural fabric, using the curve of the room to create a series of spokes along which light travels. The use of warm colour temperatures and the provision of concealed light to mirrors is crucial in creating a pleasant ambience in these spaces.”

CONTACTS Electrolight: (03) 9670 2694 or www.electrolight.com.au

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Q

uestions with

venue sat down with three lighting designers; Volker Haug, Glen Haron of Haron Robson Lightmatters and Duncan Ward of Satelight to chat about why light matters. A few common themes include a love of old technology, a shared appreciation of lighting great Ingo Maurer and hope for the future of LED.

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What is your favourite light source?

Vollker Haug: I’m still a big fan of the incandescent. In my opinion it would be a crime if it gets banned.

At the moment you still get by with either selling the stock you already have or importing certain things that are not replaceable with something energy friendly. The lights I make are not really lights you would light your whole venue with. They would be one or two feature pieces. To have an incandescent light, there is nothing wrong with that in my opinion. I love to be able to see the filament, look at the shape of the globe, and look right into what happens inside. With the LEDs or compact flouros, it’s just not as interesting at the moment. However, there are probably more to come. I like to see how the light functions, rather than everything being disguised in a diffuser. To turn a light switch on and say, “There is a light.”

Glen Haron: The tungsten halogen low voltage dichroic lamp. But it’s not particularly energy friendly these days. It’s the ultimate flex-

ible compact light source. People understand how it works. The nature of the light it produces is crisp, has great colour and it’s probably an endangered species in these days of energy consciousness. But it can be used to create some great effects and spaces.

Duncan Ward: Even though it’s old tech, I love the style and design of the incandescent. I just like the intricacy of the filament and how it’s suspended within the space. We don’t really use them anymore; they’re all essentially out the door, unfortunately. But better things will come along. We use quite a bit of halogen in some of our fittings — good colour and temperature.

Do you have high hopes for the future of light sources?

VH: Yes, we have come a long way

already, but there’s still much work to do. The problem at the moment is the government has placed great pressure on turning ‘the tap’ off now, but the industry isn’t ready to provide what incandescent has. Therefore lighting designers like us are doing it

very hard, because this is our living and we don’t even get considered — it is just the law, full stop. I’m finding that quite harsh, and there should be exemptions for people like us. I still have hope, and I’m always looking out for what is coming next. A good example is the Plumen globe, the first designer compact fluoro. I’m sure it will be one of many, but right now it’s the only one and still expensive. I try to use whatever I can get my hands on. I even went to Turkey in January on holiday, found this amazing fluoro, and brought two back. It’s a very bright, flower-shaped fluoro. There’s a cool one and a warm one, I’d love to do an installation with them. There’s definitely hope, I’m not giving up, but I’m also not giving up the incandescent as much as I can.

GH: The great hope is LEDs, but unfortunately it hasn’t yet fulfilled its promise. Having seen quite a few retail spaces of late lit almost entirely with compact fluorescent and LEDs, they’re rather underwhelming. The world’s going beige, rather than black and white. Lighting with LEDs has lost its sparkle.

There are two parts. One, the technology needs to improve so it has greater output in a single point source. The second thing is that people are using the existing technology in the same way they used the technology that came before it. You need to rethink how you approach lighting with LEDs. DW: I think that LED will evolve.

There’s already the second generation SMDs, and the output from those is significantly better than the first generation. LEDs will definitely be the way we go, whatever shape or form they take. OLEDs will probably be the next big step ahead. There are a couple of improvements that are going to have to be made. The majority of current light fittings need to have more of an omni-directional output for our field, such as the old incandescents. Also, consistency in colour temperature and colour rendering is vital.

How important is lighting to hospitality?

VH: Even more these days hospital-

ity venues are trying to look differ-

“The world’s going beige, rather than black and white”

Duncan Ward

Volker Haug

Glen Haron

53

ent and have a personalised feel to it — KFC and McDonalds are good examples. This is what the world seems to need. Everything is so high tech and fast that people really have the need for something personable and customisable. I think that is why the Wow shades we make are so popular because people can determine the inside pattern and colour — we make it just for them.

It’s a great service that’s hard to find these days because most things are made in China. There’s a lot of competition out there, and you want your venue to look amazing, ideally more amazing than your left or right next-door-neighbour. You want to draw people in, feel good and have a good atmosphere in there, and that’s where good lighting really makes or breaks you. It’s really important.

GH: Take out food, alcohol and people, and it’s the next thing — because it reveals and also hides. It sets expectations and hierarchy if done well. It’s the ‘feely’ without the ‘touchy’.

DW: From my perspective, the two things that make a hospitality proj-

ect really work — before you serve food or drink — is the lighting and the acoustics. The furniture and everything else is secondary, because if it’s not properly lit, you don’t see any of that — the good colours of the fabric, where all the hazards are, what you’re eating. There are a whole lot of things that come into play with eyesight and your ears as to how you interpret a space.

Do you have any favourite lighting designers?

VH: My big one is Ingo Maurer, a

German lighting designer. I met him on two occasions in Milan two years ago, and we sat down and chatted and I showed him my folio. He particularly liked the Antler. Back then they were still plastic versions, and he encouraged me to bring them to the next level, which I’ve since done.

I met him again in January this year in his showroom in Munich, and we had another chat. He’s 78 years old and he’s still working. My question is, I wonder if it’s ever possible to retire if you really are that passionate, which I am as well. I’m not too wor-

ried about paying into my super as yet. I might be working for the rest of my life!

GH: Jonathan Spiers is always looking for a lateral way of applying things. Philipe Starck has a great knowledge of texture and hierarchy, and light and dark.

DW: My personal favourite is Ingo Maurer — one of those landmark characters. He was innovative in what he developed at the start, and his sculptural approach to lighting was one of those key elements that draws you in. The fitting itself becomes more than a light source. There’s a lot of good, really simple minimalist lighting that is incorporated into the architecture as well. We have a whole range from Innermost. Winnie Lui is pretty cool as well.

What makes a good light or lighting design?

VH: It doesn’t have to be compli-

cated, it can be simple, elegant, stylish, witty, quirky, unique. That’s what I think.

GH: It’s setting up the hierarchy. We believe that light matters, but also

that dark matters. You need to balance that depending on the type of space you’ve got. If you want something dramatic then the contrast between the two is high. Then using the recognition of that balance to achieve whatever image or expectation you’re trying to set in a venue.

You can use not only the surfaces, but the form of the fitting to address that expectation. A good lighting designer looks not only at lighting the space, but the things within it.

People confuse the two sometimes or don’t know the difference.

DW: A good light is something that embraces the materials incorporated within it. A good light varies from space to space. Sometimes it’s really needed to incorporate into the architecture, other times it’s needed to feature outside of the architecture.

What makes a good lighting design is the use of shadow and light. If you forget the shadow then you don’t have a good lighting design. You need the play between the two elements. A well-lit room is not something that is always evenly lit.

EUROLUCE MILAN 2011 Report: Julie Nguyen

The design world flocked to Salone del Mobile in Milan this year, celebrating the fair’s 50th anniversary and new trends in lighting that emerged at Euroluce.

It seemed like LED was causing a stir in the lighting sector, with many Italian companies like Rotaliana unveiling entire collections of convention-free designs including the String LED Table Lamp and Furin Wall of Light, showing off the luminous brightness and energy efficiency that comes with LED. Meanwhile, new geometries and new proportions captured how light could control space and form, with lights such as the Tick LED wall light designed by Dante Donegani and Giovanni Lauda driving the beauty of indirect light from a fitting hung upside down, vertically or horizontally.

While thousands of glitzy crystal chandeliers filled the Euroluce pavilions, it was enlightening to see technology driving design. In technical lighting, Ivela’s unmistakeable elegance lured us to the KEP floodlights with its ultra thin design. With an elliptical body that could curve 350 degrees vertically and horizontally, the KEP is one of those lights to look out for in many projects to come.

If international trends and sustainability credentials are anything to go by, LED might just become the future of lighting.

Consider this when you next flick on a light switch: about one-fifth of the world’s electricity is used for lighting, and most of it is squandered.

The ubiquitous incandescent light bulbs, invented more than a century ago, are more than inefficient. Only about 5 to 10% of the energy they consume is used to produce light, while the rest is burned off as useless heat.

Sustainability credentials aside, the newcomers at Euroluce 2011 are tipped to be an influential sign of special things to come in LED lighting.

Furin designed by Kengo Kuma

Column

Ledbell designed by Burkhard Pantelait

Tick designed by Dante Donegani & Giovanni Lauda

Kep designed by Enrico Bona & Elisa Nobile

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AHL VAMPS UP GOLD COAST QT Gold Coast: 7 Staghorn Ave, Surfers Paradise QLD (07) 5584 1200 or www.qtgoldcoast.com.au

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‘P

utting the vamp in revamp,’ reads QT Resort’s package. And with the odd pasty-legged tourist parading the corridors of the Gold Coast boutique hotel, they could be onto something. But other than that, it’s not home to a brood of bloodsuckers, or harbouring anything remotely dark at all. Rather it’s a colourful, open and airy hotel that works perfectly in the Gold Coast summer sun.

Nicholas Graham & Associates designed the new public areas at QT Resort for Amalgamated Holdings Limited. It’s a stylish sanctuary, with marketplace-style dining at Bazaar and a Californian Baha vibe in the Stingray Lounge.

Michel Goupy of PointOfView walks through the lighting design of QT Resort on the Gold Coast, and how it adds drama, sophistication and intrigue to the public areas.

FIXX

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“The open lounge ambience allows the multifaceted bar wall and built-in joinery to be highlighted. A sense of intimacy is created, in an otherwise vast open space, by discreet multi-sourced downlights that pool light over seating clusters in the waiting area. A random array of coloured pendants adds a playful touch, linking the various sections of the meeting place.”

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BAZAAR RESTAURANT

“The restaurant is based around a vibrant ‘marketplace’ concept. PointOfView’s lighting approach is to always integrate lighting into architecture, in this case closely collaborating with NG&A to ensure the produce and cooking theatrics become the main attraction.

“The sensitive use of light within the show kitchen ensured the right emphasis was placed on its hero elements: the kitchen and display table are lit with discreet recessed downlights while linear LED lighting is carefully integrated into the joinery to illuminate the San Pellegrino bottles above, and vegetable displays and plates below. Lighting the very visible refrigerator is an important element within the scheme that shows off the colours of the vegetables on display.

“Selected boxes have been internally illuminated in the open dining area to create a random ceiling texture, while a series of spotlights have been carefully placed in between the boxes to ensure that each dining table is accented. This was a key interiod design feature realised by PointOfView. Narrow streaks of light graze the textured perimeter screens, creating an interesting background.

And colour is again exploited with the use of decorative contemporary pendants in key areas of the restaurant.”

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CONTACTS PointOfView: (02) 9818 6355 or www.pov.com.au

RECEPTION

“Illuminated from within, the reception desk is a striking statement of colour and bold form. The timber back drop is graced by linear fluorescent light. A slot is cut through the ceiling with a series of concealed downlights to light the counter.

Feature pendants stylise and articulate the space.”

1

Euroluce (Oluce Canopy 421): (02) 9380 6222 or www.euroluce.com.au

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Xenian (Lite LAB MR16 Wallwash): 1800 888 863 or www.xenian.com.au

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Inlite (Deltalight Hole-In-One): (02) 9699 3900 or www.inlite.com.au

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Space (Foscarini Twiggi Terra): (02) 8339 7588 or www.spacefurniture.com.au

5

JSB (Intralux Xenflex): (02) 9571 8800 or www.jsblighting.com.au

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Light Project (KKDC Timi 503): 1300 473 100 or www.lightproject.com.au

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Corporate Culture (Lightyears Caravaggio P): (02) 9690 0077 or www.corporateculture.com.au

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LiteSource (Lucifer EDL Downlights): (02) 8079 6693 or www.litesource.com.au

Digital Place-Based Media & Technology

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STINGRAY LOUNGE

“Lighting design in hospitality environments is about creatively deciding what not to light, and relative contrast. Imaginatively applied, this creates the magic and space.

“The core of the space is the bar. Lighting recedes into the background making the strong graphic of the bar front more prominent, and the back bar is accentuated by concealed LED strips and discreet spotlights from above. Cantilevered tubular arms along the perimeter of the bar (as if an extension of the pipe works) suspend conical light shades over the seating below.

This creates intimacy and interest to the space and also limits the view of the services above.

59

“The physical hierarchy of the lounge is reinforced by the main elements that include: accentuation of the tiled bar front; conical light shades around the perimeter of the bar; and the undulating lighting treatment creating light and shade.

“Lighting is used sparingly but with purpose. It is balanced depending on the time of day and the event. In essence, the lighting provides the interior design with further drama and sophistication.”

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THE LAWN CONTACTS UEL: 9 (Custom Conical Dome) 10 (Custom Tube Light) (02) 9349 2011 11 Eagle Lighting (Masson): (03) 9344 7444 or www.eaglelighting.com.au 12 Euroluce (Jielde Loft): (02) 9380 6222 or www.euroluce.com.au 13 Xenian (Lite LAB MR16 Object): 1800 888 863 or www.xenian.com.au

“Continuous linear lighting at low level gives an edgy feel to the sunken lounge and draws attention to the illuminated graphic ceiling. While a series of unusually long tubular downlights create dramatic narrow beams of light over the long table.

“Soft light leaks out of crevices and architectural details to provide a seductive lounge setting. Downlights in the ceiling exaggerate separation of the space.”

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ORGANIC ILLUMINATION

PRO SHOP LIGHTING

Auckland Town Hall: 50 Mayoral Dve, Auckland NZ

Northbridge Golf Club: Sailors Bay Road, Northbridge NSW (02) 9958 6900 or www.northbridgegolfclub.com.au

The Auckland Town Hall Organ Trust pooled $3.5m from the city council and locals to restore the splendour of the town hall organ. Enlisting the services of Orgelbau Klais of Bonn, the organ is a magnificent work of art and required a quality lighting solution to show off the behemoth. Initially 10 Par64 fixtures mounted on H-stands around the floor lit the organ — but that didn’t cut it, with the amount of heat generated and power the fixtures sucked. The Town Hall is a Class 1 heritage building and constructed entirely of timber. Needless to say, having 10 hot potatoes surrounding the new organ wasn’t the best solution. Malcolm Ibell, Head of Lighting for the entire precinct, was looking for an LED solution but couldn’t find a good tri-colour option that wouldn’t cast strange shadows on the organ’s many angles. But when Malcolm came across the Pulsar ChromaFlood 200 TriColour he recommended the purchase of eight. The ChromaFlood uses 66 TriColour LEDs, mixing the colour source within the unit to avoid multicoloured shadows. The unit also has a maximum power consumption of 200W, no fan, a maximum temperature of 40 degrees, no moving parts, screw-off interchangeable lenses and flickerless dimming — all factors that contributed to its selection. And the numbers looked good too. “Although manufacturers give LED fixtures a lifetime of 100,000 hours I did my calculations on 50,000 hours of life without bulb or gel costs, labour costs for maintenance and power savings,” said Malcolm. “By doing this I was able to show the number-crunchers how quickly they paid themselves off. I’m a real convert and I’m hoping to add some more to the rest of the venue.”

Showtech: (02) 9748 1122 or www.showtech.com.au

Stephen Carter is a gaffer by trade and runs his own company Light Me but he’s also very passionate about golf, playing a regular round at Northbridge Golf Club. The Club was looking for a cost effective way to liven up its functions area and asked Stephen if he had any ideas. As it happened, golf and lighting aligned when Stephen suggested applying the aptly named Pro Shop RGB LED Tape to the walls between the windows. Aluminium channels would hold it in place and sheer white fabric draped over the lot. Installation of Pro Shop RGB LED Tape is a breeze — simply peel the backing off the tape and apply it directly to a prepared flat surface. The beginning of the tape then gets wired to your choice of control option and away you go, with theme coloured lighting at the flick of a switch. “Problem solved, the club now has a versatile and dynamic lighting system at its fingertips to create an appropriate atmosphere for the restaurant and function centre,” commented Stephen. It’s a simple solution, and one that works for the club, and the TriColour SMD LED technology allows rich colours even in broad daylight.

Showtech: (02) 9748 1122 or www.showtech.com.au

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LIGHT AMOUNT Mount Pritchard District Community Club: 101 Meadows Road, Mt Pritchard, NSW (02) 9822 3555 or www.mounties.com.au

‘Mounties’ is one of the largest clubs in Australia and its brand is ‘we’re all about making it memorable for you’. Haron Robson took that on board with the re-lighting of the bar and gaming areas — with back-lit Marblo bars, luxurious feature lighting and generous light wall-washing, the first impression is designed to ‘wow’ first-time visitors and regulars alike.

Gaming Lounge Bar The bar adjacent to the main gaming lounge makes generous use of amber-coloured Marblo — a robust material to survive the rigours of a busy meeting-place.

The internally lit bar and wall panels take on a life of their own once the sun sets.

The warm glow emanating from the service area creates a serene balance against the gaming area’s vibrancy. The feature bar and wall panels give off enough ambient light to ensure there is only minimal need for practical lighting, with halogen downlights directly above the bar being the only task lighting required.

Bar 11 The lozenge-shaped Bar 11 on the upper level is entirely different, with cool tones and transparent materials creating a light and ethereal setting for the lounge and cocktail area. The light feature suspended above the bar is a custom arrangement of standard individual light fittings — the Fireflies luminaire is from Yellow Goat’s range, but a chandelier effect was created by the lighting designer using a bespoke cluster installation. The clear acrylic ‘wings’ with edges that glow in the dark seemingly float above the bar, which appears to be moulded from pure ice.

White LED-strips downlight the vertical ridges of the feature glass panels to give the realistic iceberg glow effect.

CONTACTS Haron Robson: (02) 9712 5544 or www.haronrobson.com.au Yellow Goat: (07) 5532 8659 or www.yellowgoat.com.au

SEAMLESSLY INTEGRATED ARCHITECTS, FACILITY MANAGERS & CONSULTANTS: You’re invited to this special half-day conference. venue in Partnership with InfoComm International is delighted to present ‘Communications Technology in the Built Environment’, a must-attend half-day conference.

The conference will focus on how to make information communication technology (ICT) work for you: • Making it Pay: Getting the best ROI from your communications technologies.

• Sustainability: Using ICT systems to improve your design’s energy rating.

• Client Satisfaction: Using ICT to exceed client expectations.

• Your Perspective: The entire ICT journey – from design, installation and operations – is tracked, all from the architect’s perspective.

• Your Next Job: Pertinent to entertainment venues and hotels, public and commercial buildings.

• Fully Integrated: This half-day session is being staged on the site of Integrate, Australia’s largest professional audiovisual and ICT exhibition.

Communications Technology in the Built Environment When: 30 Aug 2011, 10:30am – 1:30pm Where: Royal Hall of Industries, Moore Park, Sydney.

Tickets: www.integrate-expo.com (click on ‘Seminars’) Cost: $110 For more info contact Christopher Holder: chris@alchemedia.com.au or (03) 5331 4949

30th AUGUST1st SEPTEMBER

2011 Hordern Pavilion &

Royal Hall of Industries

Moore Park, Sydney www.integrate-expo.com

2011

in association with

About InfoComm International: InfoComm International is a global organisation for the professional AV industry. InfoComm International conducts hundreds of seminars and training sessions around the world annually, underpinning its commitment to raising the standards of excellence in the professional AV industry. Go: www.infocomm.org

1

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Lighting: For your entertainment

Lit

3

ETC Source Four Fresnel

4

1

Fresnel light sources are a favourite of many lighting designers, combining a soft edge with a sense of brilliance. It serves as both a controlled washlight and soft focus area lighting with its spotto-flood zoom focusing. There are three lamp wattages to choose from — 375W, 575W and 750W. And when you need to change a lamp, ETC’s design lets you change the lamp from underneath the fixture, maintaining its carefully dialled in focus. Also, the Source Four’s dichroic reflector design enables the 750W lamp to equal the lumens output of 1000W fresnels.

Philips VariLite VL400 Spot Luminaire

2

The VL400 Spot luminaire is small, lightweight, and fast with a 400W MSR Gold 400 MiniFastFit lamp, 9000 lumen output, a zoom range from 15- to 36-degrees, and a mechanical iris for continuous beam control. An independent drop-in frost glass assembly allows users to soften the overall beam, allowing for additional beam control. Built-in mounting points on the front of the luminaire provide for easy attachment of after-market accessories such as top hats.

Jands: (02) 9582 0909 or info@jands.com.au

Jands: (02) 9582 0909 or info@jands.com.au

Martin MAC 101

3

The Martin MAC 101 is a small, light and simple LED moving head wash light. It features a tight and very bright beam, rapid movement and calibrated colours. Utilising cost-efficient, high-volume production and featuring an ultra-compact design that promotes use in larger quantities, the MAC 101 is ideal for easy-to-produce, high-impact looks like large wall matrices or as a dynamic replacement for static PAR cans. Even in smaller numbers the MAC 101 is a versatile wash light, useful for visual effect in a wide variety of applications like clubs, bars, restaurants and more.

Show Technology Australia: (02) 9748 1122 or www.showtech.com.au

Robin 600 PureWhite

4

The Robin 600 PureWhite is suitable for applications needing a high quality, low powered white light with all the features and functionality of a moving light — like pan/tilt & zoom. There will be three versions — Cool White (CW) at 6000K, Warm White (WW) at 3200K and Smart White (SW), which is variable from 32006500K. Used as a traditional white light source, the Robin PureWhite has the potential to dramatically reduce heat output in installs, emitting virtually no heat due to its superior cooling management. The Robin 600 PureWhite features the same three rings of 10W Cree multichip LEDs as its colour changing counterpart, a fully homogenised light engine with no shadows or pixelation, producing a beautiful smooth quality of light throughout the full beam path.

ULA Group: 1300 852 476 or www.ula.com.au

63

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Surface Fusion

Graphic Material

Laminex has teamed up with Australian textile designer, Julie Paterson, to bring 15 exclusive designs to Laminex Fusion surfaces. The ‘This Life’ collection features bold prints and shapes, with a range of colourways including vibrant oranges and greens.

The fusion of urban living and the natural world are brought out in Scribbly Bark and Shadowtree, while industrial tones feature in City Streetscape and Urban Canvas. All surfaces come with a seven-year warranty.

Bravo Print & Design recently completed an install of their printed graphic Ezyfit display systems at Pan Asian restaurant in Melbourne. The colourful displays are based on custom aluminium frames designed to stretch printed fabric over. All inks used by Bravo are water based and free of chemicals and solvents, and can be printed on many textiles for use not only in signage but custom designed upholstery too.

Laminex: 1800 002 204 or www.laminex.com.au

Bravo Print & Design: (03) 9546 3345 or info@bravoprint.com.au

commercial 65 edge

Pinch Me

RBA Stainless Steel Tapware

Rogerseller’s 3-hole tapware is designed and manufactured in Australia. The slim, ergonomic handles are designed to be pinched for an effortless response. Although the design is Australian, it conceals precision German cartridge technology that ensures perfect operation and the intended aesthetic installation where the baseplate merges with the handle. Available for various applications, the range is 5-star WELS rated.

Have you had difficulty in sourcing commercial tapware made from vandal resistant stainless steel? We have lost count of the number of requests we have fielded for this type of tapware.

Rogerseller: (03) 9429 8888 or www.rogerseller.com.au

RBA now has heavy duty stainless steel self-closing tapware. Not only is the tapware vandal resistant, it is very durable and environmentally friendly with a 6 Star WELS rating. The benefits don’t stop there - our stainless steel tapware is easy to operate, very low maintenance and simple to install. An added advantage of our tapware is the hygiene qualities associated with stainless steel. The tapware is available in bright and satin finishes to match popular commercial design specifications.

The sustainability of our stainless steel tapware is more than just the 6 Star WELS rating it has achieved. During production, all tailing waste is recycled within the manufacturing plant and the tap itself is 100% recyclable.

If durability, low maintenance and achieving high green star status are important to you when choosing commercial tapware, then visit our website today.

RBA: www.rba.com.au

Mondrian SoHo

New York

66

You Wish

Escaping to the island of Manhattan is like lighting a fire to escape the heat. It doesn’t get much bustlier than the Big Apple, except perhaps in line for a Bangkok toilet. In every movie, characters are either overwhelmed by the move to the Big City or chased out of it by some rampaging monster. Nevertheless, if you’re intent on escaping New York in New York, then the Mondrian SoHo is willing to oblige. Apparently designer Benjamin Noriega Ortiz had been watching Jean Cocteau’s Beauty and the Beast and opted to adopt a fairytale touch for the Mondrian. Seuss-like shaggy floor lamps grow out of the lobby, crawling metallic flowers creep across the roof, open umbrella lights stick out the side of wingbacks, and the sole colour is blue. Then there’s the chandelier-lit garden annex and mirrored Imperial 9 restaurant — a real Beauty of a hotel.

sound . light . vision Audio Technology

Display Technology

Digital Signage

Lighting & Staging

30th AUGUST1st SEPTEMBER

2011 Hordern Pavilion &

Royal Hall of Industries

Moore Park, Sydney Unified Communications

www.integrate-expo.com 2011

Education Technology

in association with