From business to pleasure, club transforms itself daily
The night before Queen's Day 2010, a Dutch public holiday, Club AIR opened its doors in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The club aimed to have an international look and feel, and wanted to represent tolerance, diversity, creativity, quality, and freedom. Club AIR hoped to attract both the nightlife crowds and the business crowds, which needed a space to do professional presentations.
The space had to be furnished and decorated to accommodate both crowds. Co-founder of Club AIR, Sander Groet, teamed up with Livingprojects, a Breda-based specialist in LED lighting and controls, to help with the lighting design. The owner of Livingprojects, Michael Sebregts, collaborated with Color Kinetics to deliver Groet a high-quality LED lighting solution to accomplish his goals.
Groet believed that using LED lighting would be the best way to accomplish his vision. LED lighting offers the flexibility to change the look of the club from professional during the day to laidback and fun at night. In addition, energy efficiency of the LEDs fit perfectly with the club's other sustainable initiatives including a dance floor made from recycled tires, and toilets that are cleaned using compressed air. Everything from staircases to champagne coolers, to the toilets would be illuminated with LEDs.
Color Kinetics offered a large number of different LED solutions that fit Groet's needs. The entrance is illuminated with ColorBlast 12 luminaires (now specified with Blast Powercore). Guests walk down hallways illuminated with iColor Cove MX Powercore luminaires (now specified with PureStyle Compact Powercore, IntelliHue). The dance floor comes alive with iColor Flex SLX (now specified with Flex Compact gen3, RGB) strands, and an adjacent room's ceiling is illuminated with Flex Micro LED strands. The rest of the interior is lit with a variety of Color Kinetics products including eW Cove Powercore, eW Graze Powercore, eW Downlight Powercore, and eW Profile Powercore.
Groet is happy with the lighting design and was pleasantly surprised that LED lighting can withstand vibrations, which is very important for a nightclub that likes to turn up the bass. He was also impressed that he could control all the lighting in the club from one central panel. "We can change from bright pulsating light during a club night to a beautiful starry sky for a business presentation, for example," Groet explains.
With the help of Color Kinetics, the result was exactly what Groet envisioned: a club that combines the latest technology with user-friendliness and sustainability.
