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Vex Nightclub at Harrah's

Lake Tahoe, Nevada, USA

In early 2006 Harrah’s Lake Tahoe completed extensive renovation to the former Altitude Nightclub, transforming it into VEX – a fashionable nightclub in northern Nevada. The $3 million renovation introduced VEX as a premiere hot spot, complete with the latest in LED lighting technology by Color Kinetics.

Jon Champelli of Shop 12 Design was tasked with reinventing the nightclub and worked with 4Wall Entertainment – a leading international provider of lighting systems for theatrical, architectural, and marketing applications – to make his concept a reality. Champelli and 4Wall Entertainment chose a variety of Color Kinetics LE lighting systems to bring energy and intensity to the space. Above the entry to VEX, a compelling lighting feature beckons you inside the club. Over 160 units of iColor® Module FX – a 6-inch (15.2 cm) square panel that incorporates 36 or 9 tri-color, individually controllable LED nodes on 1” centers – create an entrance sign displaying custom video graphics, including intricate patterns and an animated VEX logo.

The most demanding of the project’s requirements was the redesign of the club’s signature Go-Go dancer catwalks. The catwalks are connected to the stage as well as the platforms behind the bars to bring the Las Vegas-style showgirls onto the dance floor area. To further highlight the custom-designed structures, Champelli chose iColor Cove® MX Powercore – Color Kinetics highest-intensity linear LED-based fixture. . “The MX Powercore was an easy choice for the catwalk uplights, due to their line-voltage feed, minimal number of power supplies, and their bullet-proof reliability,” said Champelli. In addition to the catwalks, iColor Cove® MX Powercore fixtures are incorporated into custom-built dichroic chandeliers to lend colorful illumination to the VIP cabanas.

On both sides of the dance floor, behind each of the clubs two bars, horizontal bands of a custom acrylic extrusion are filled with almost 200 strands of iColor® Flex SL. The horizontal extrusions are spaced 3” apart, allowing the Color Kinetics ColorBlast® 12 fixtures to illuminate the performers behind the back-bar video displays.

All of the LED sources are controlled by Video System Engine and a DMX system that receive content from a digital media server. This integrated control enables for all of the lighting systems to be managed from a central touch screen.