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PAI Gets Modern at Gwernllwyn Country Club

The PAI Group have completed an innovative contemporary audio/visual and lighting installation at the Gwernllwyn Country Club, Carmarthenshire. The 700 capacity venue – owned by local independent entrepreneur Will James - features a split level design with a function room on the first floor and a nightclub below.

PAI Group’s general manager Keith Elms led the project, taking Thomas Parry Architects’ interior design as an aesthetic starting point for the design, specification and supply of a complimentary, avant-garde technical infrastructure.

Elms comments: “We know that the fusion between interior design, AV and lighting systems is intrinsic to delivering the most cutting-edge results for the client.” For the best results, PAI’s elements of the design amalgamated architectural and effects lighting in a comprehensive visual scheme for the club.

The club’s peripheral features utilize state-of-the-art LED architectural lighting. These architectural elements are incorporated into the venue’s key features including the bar fronts, vodka shelves, seating booths, tables and wall areas. i-Vision’s i-link RGB product was selected due to it’s compact size which allowed it to be concealed into the shop fit features. i-Vision’s Lumos 18 RGB Flood was used to wash the external aspects of the building, and their Lumos 12 fixtures were selected to provide the in-table illumination due to their open frame construction.

For control, there are six Lumos 216 drivers driven by a Sunlite controller, complete with an 8-button outstation for easy operation. This enables the venue to morph between moods using colour. At the touch of a button they can skip between steamy reds, cool blues or simply run the system in continuous colour-change mode. These types of effects have previously been predominantly seen in large budget metropolitan installations.

The venue has several distinct internal areas, all of which PAI treated as separate but related in terms of the guest experience: People wanting to chat and relax in the chill-out zoes are surrounded by sumptuous soft furnishings, and crystal clear music in the background. The latter is provided by six Martin Audio EM15 compact loudspeakers, chosen for its outstanding sound quality and compact dimensions. Phillips 42” HD plasma screens and 32” LCD screens are mounted at high level and to the rear wall of chill-out zone two, providing ambient video for revelers to enjoy.

The seating and lounging booths are bathed in the warm ambience of LED mood lighting produced by i-Vision i-Link RGB incorporated into a standard downlighter, customized to take this element together with Lumos 12 floods set into the base of the bespoke glass and stainless steel tables. This location also offers a grandstand view over the dance floor and stage areas where all the main evening’s action takes place, and is a great place for people-spotting!

The two Bars have a total of 70 i-Vision i-Link RGB LED fixtures set behind the façades, both at pelmet and bar front levels, with an illuminated vodka stand at the back of Bar 2. The music is louder in these areas, delivered by 8 RCF C3108 300w full range speakers positioned around the periphery of the room “We’re currently championing this particular audio product due to the quantity and quality of sound produced by them,” explains Elms.

The club has four dance podiums, all with integral professional polished chrome dance poles. An animated ‘cage of light’ effect from above is created using 64 Par 36 spotlights combined with 16 Abstract AVR LED colour changing dance floor panels from below. This is a great alternative twist for exhibitionists and the more flamboyant.

Live acts strut their stuff on the dedicated stage area, with stage lighting coming from eight PAR 56s and two rear facing Martin Professional Twister 4 effects lights. Two of the dance podiums are also located onstage, providing a platform for extroverts and the hot dancers in the house. The stage edges are illuminated with i-Vision i-link RGB LEDs for further visual enhancements, also doubling as a safety feature by highlighting the stage edges. Audio in this area is supplied by 2 RCF powered monitors, and video by a 2000 ANSI lumen LCD projector, projecting a 3500mm wide image onto the rear wall of the stage.

For the main dance floor six silver coated, steel meshed, tubular structures form the main industrial looking ceiling feature of the venue. This is also the main framework onto which the lighting effects and a fully featured sound system are rigged.

Audio is delivered via four RCF Event 3000 full range speakers and dedicated RCF 1018 series subs, processed via an Allen & Heath DR66. The front end features an industry standard Formula Sound FSM400 mixer which has remote inputs for dex, CD and DVD players and external microphones.

Lighting effects are four Futurelight PSX 575 moving heads, four Futurelight CY2504 tumbling barrel effects, four Coemar i-Spot 250 moving heads, four Fusion 07 moonflower type effects plus a pair of Martin Professional MiniMACs and two Clay Paky Mini-scans. Smoke is provided by a Jem ZR33 smoke machine complete with remote controlled Tas Windy fan to disperse the haze across the dancefloor and stage areas. The effects rig is controlled by the client’s existing industry standard computerized lighting desk which provides two universes of DMX. Two LED CIRRECT Super3 lasers complete the stunning special effects package.

The highlight of the dance area is an illuminated floor incorporating over 30 Abstract 600 mm x 600mm LED panels, independently run via a Sunlite controller, and a show-stopper for creating dramatic grids and concentrated patterns of light.

The dance floor design was crafted into a linking feature between the shape of the lighting structures at high level, and the physical constraints of the available dance floor area below. This was achieved by using the most panels that could be fitted into the area without it becoming just a boring rectangle of squares. This floor also illuminates the underside of the lighting structures themselves, creating interesting contrasting colour accent and base scenes to complement sympathetically programmed lighting effects. The dancefloor action can also be studied from 12 illuminated seating booths located around its periphery, highlighted using i-Vision Lumos12 floods.

In addition to all this, PAI installed a fully comprehensive Vista digital CCTV system incorporating 16 high resolution colour cameras controlled from a CDR Triplex DVR Cam Controller with 600Gb hard drive covering the whole venue internally and externally.

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PAI Gets Modern at Gwernllwyn Country Club

18th June 2007

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