Pics: James French
Hard Rock Hotel UK Designers at Nulty have recently completed the lighting scheme of London’s new Hard Rock Hotel and Hard Rock Café. On entering, visitors are immediately met with a cacophony of sensory stimulation in the portal leading to the hotel lobby; a series of brass rods, pendants, mirrors and rectangular light sheets indicate to guests that they are leaving the old world behind and entering a space bursting with rock and roll attitude. The Nulty team co-ordinated closely with the project’s interior designer Scott Brownrigg to install 120 Applelec light sheets of various sizes, and as many Reggiani Yori pendants, amongst the fractured graphics of the space. In the main lobby, past Freddie Mercury’s first ever piano, is a wall of eighteen glass cases full of impressive music memorabilia. These are lit with XAL’s Nano adjustable spot and halo lights, creating a vibrant space of interest, while wall-mounted artwork is illuminated by Buschfeld’s Shop spots. Another 60 or so lit pieces of memorabilia are sprinkled amongst the hotel lobby and café. By using troughs in the ceiling to house Linea Light Group’s Creek track system, fitted with Pound 2 spotlights, Nulty avoided populating the vast lobby with an abundance of downlights. These troughs
034
www.arc-magazine.com
successfully break up the broad expanse of the ceiling. Meanwhile ramps and stairs throughout have integrated lighting installed, and as the light levels in the space get very low, floor lighting provides safe passage without affecting the mood. The eye-catching reception desk is lit by a custommade installation from Nulty Bespoke. Highlighting the humble drumstick, the installation consists of 135 fibre optic cables encased by handmade, 600mm long ‘drumsticks’. The maple drumsticks appear to have light emanating from their tips, suggesting that music is escaping from the drumstick itself. Each of the cables is hung at different lengths, giving the overall impression that the installation represents a large sound wave. The main hub of the space is a commanding circular bar, dividing the hotel from the adjacent Hard Rock Café. The ceiling light installation dramatically demarks the space with a series of 7-metre brass fins radiating from the centre. 2000 Philips Color Kinetics iColor Flex MX gen2 LED nodes, provided by Architainment, are mounted between the fins to provide both illumination and a type of messaging in the bar. Each of the LEDs are individually addressable, so the installation can be programmed as patterns of sparkling stars, pulsing chevron, a clock face or even seasonally-inspired moments, such as a