Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Las Vegas’ Famed Center Bar Goes Full Circle
Twenty years ago, the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas introduced the concept of situating a bar at the very center of the casino, where guests could scope out the action on the floor while drinking. The idea hit the jackpot, and the layout was copied all over the city.
The original Center Bar, perched under a dome at the heart of Hard Rock’s 30,000-square foot casino, quickly became a celebrity magnet, the place to see and be seen. Drew Carey mentioned it in his autobiography. KISS mounted their comeback by playing on top of its counter. Jamie Foxx liked to celebrate New Year’s Eve there, and Ben Affleck counted among its regulars.
So when Hard Rock Hotel’s management decided that their two-decades-old icon needed renovating and held a “Final Call” party for the Center Bar this past June, they were taking something of a gamble. Even though they promised to reopen the drinkery with a new design that would make its future as glittering as its past, many of the old guard were skeptical. Echoing popular sentiment, one reviewer with Las Vegas Weekly lamented,” I was convinced I’d hate whatever replaced it.”
What replaced it, however, is a stunning new high-tech Center Bar that many observers, much to their own surprise, admit totally outshines the original. Still the unmistakable “heart” of the casino, the sleek, revamped Center Bar is encircled in white spring granite and features silver paneling and lux velvet and faux alligator-textured furniture in purple and amber shades.
New LED Light Structure
But what really draws the eye is the dome. Before, it was dominated by a large globe. Now, it is filled with a dazzling, abstract pixel-mapped LED light structure that streams colors to match the surrounding architectural lights, as well as video images that coordinate with the musical performances shown on the room’s video monitors. As a result of this new synchronized LED focal point, the Center Bar now feels more connected to the larger casino area, a distinct space yet totally immersive in its environment.
To create the massive LED structure, lighting designer Robert Athey of All Things Integrated (Las Vegas) relied on the pixel-mapping capabilities of 267 ÉPIX Strip 2.0 LED linear fixtures from Chauvet Professional. A one-meter strip with 40 Tri-Color RGB LEDs, the ultra-bright ÉPIX Strips form a circle over the round bar, shining like a crown and riveting eyes from every spot in the casino.
Athey, who’s enjoyed a longstanding relationship with Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, has been involved in numerous projects for the chain. This includes the design of the landmark video wall at the Las Vegas hotel’s registration desk and the Vanity Nightclub. He was called in by management to create a revitalizing design for the Center Bar. “We helped drive several concepts, including using the iconic dome and pixel mapping it,” Athey said. “When all of the elements were on the table, a committee of owners, operations people and others met, and it was agreed to move in the direction of the ‘abstract’ design for the dome. The concept was to create something that drew attention to the Center Bar and pulled the whole room together with a unifying look. The pixel-mapped ÉPIX Strips did this by tying the music videos with the light.”
Teamwork Overcomes Obstacles
The LD credits content designer and programmer Chris Lose and Nevin Edwards of National Technology Associates with helping to pull the immersive design together. “Chris’ programming makes the whole structure come alive,” Athey said, “and Nevin did a great job executing the plan during the installation process.”
Although the LED structure created with the ÉPIX Strips looks like the perfect fit for this area, installing it was not without challenges, noted Edwards, “Like every project that looks this spectacular, a lot of hard work and teamwork were required to make it happen,” he said. “A cool thing about this project is that we created and installed structural pipe work to attach the ÉPIX to, and we mounted ÉPIX drives on top of the pipe structure.”
Installing the immense pipe structure itself presented its own set of challenges, according to Jose Madrigal of Martin Harris Construction, the Las Vegas-based contractor that did the work. Sitting inside the dome’s 45-foot inner diameter, the pipe structure is comprised of a 12-inch-diameter extra strong pipe, which extends nine feet below the bar. The ÉPIX Strips are supported by 2-inch extra strong pipes at the top and bottom and are fastened with Mega Clamps. The 2-inch pipe is supported by 4-inch double-extra strong pipe laterals, extending outward from the 12-inch pipe.
“The installation of the 4,000-pound pipe structure inside an occupied space presented a great challenge, due to its size and weight,” said Madrigal. “We were able to accomplish the installation by bringing in a spider crane, which fit through the existing entrance doors of the building. The spider crane was able to lift the main 12-inch pipe section into place without causing any damage to the existing structure. Once the main 12-inch pipe was in place, we were able to connect the 4-inch lateral pipe sections one at a time. The 2-inch pipe sections were cold-rolled to achieve an amoeba shape and welded into place.”
But surmounting physical obstacles was only the beginning, rivaled, if not eclipsed, by the creative challenge of re-inventing a legendary haunt —especially one with such a high profile within the lighting industry. “The most intimidating part of taking on this project was knowing that Center Bar is a hub for the parties at LDI,” said content designer/programmer Lose, who is known for his LD work for Fleetwood Mac, among others. “I know that this piece will be scrutinized by every major lighting designer 30 minutes after the LDI floor closes, and well into the morning for some. Luckily, the design is very abstract. Beer goggles only make it look cooler!”
Abstract and Low-Res
Starting with the premise that “this was an (abstract) art piece and not a video wall,” Lose resolved that the ÉPIX Strips would not be used to display advertising, nor specific images or logos, with the exception of a few key band logos because “they fit into the Hard Rock Hotel brand image.” The idea was to make the room as immersive as possible with the music videos already playing 24/7 in the Center Bar.
To manipulate live feed from the video monitors for display on the ÉPIX Strips, Lose used a product that he had been introduced to while touring with Fleetwood Mac in the U.K. — Video Dust from Thundering Jacks. “I brought in Stuart Smith from Thundering Jacks,” said Lose. “With Video Dust we were able to take an HDMI feed of the music videos and then manipulate them in a way that read very well on the ÉPIX. Video Dust uses the colors and the sound from the music videos to generate a constant stream of brand new content that matches the vibe of the room. In short, if the music videos are fast and loud, then the centerpiece is fast and loud.”
The ÉPIX Strips display alternating images of Video Dust content cue and custom content cue, from a two-hour cue list that plays throughout the day and night. Lose generated the custom content in Adobe After Effects and programmed and delivered it with ArKaos MediaMaster software and Chauvet Professional’s VIP Media Server Pro.
“The ArKaos Media Master Pro 4 and the Chauvet VIP Media Server have been rock solid,” he said. “We’re using most every feature of the ArKaos. One input is used for Video Dust and the MIDI pad is used for triggers. Having the ability to create a cue stack in ArKaos made it so that I did not even need a console to do any of the programming. I’m especially impressed that the VIP Media Server is able to take content in most any format.”
With their “amazing” brightness, the ÉPIX Strips are being run at 60 percent, added Edwards, so as not to overshadow other lights in the room. The 267 strips are configured in groups of three, for a total 89 linear columns.
“This made our total resolution 120 by 89,” noted Lose. “It was a real challenge to figure out what reads well when you take such a low-res image and stretch it 360°. In a world where people want higher resolution, we went the completely opposite and artistic direction.” However, once Lose determined what worked well, he was able to pump out content using Adobe After Effects at gigabit speed because of the low resolution and small file sizes. Thanks to the low resolution, he was also able to incorporate “personal touches and inside jokes” into the content. “If you watch the entire four-hour loop,” he says grinning, “you might just catch both of my children’s names in the design, a song written by my wife, a panda, a T-Rex and a tribute to Matt Hills.”
Cohesive and Immersive
In addition to the ÉPIX centerpiece, the ArKaos Media Master is driving the Color Kinetics LEDs that are positioned under the bar as well as ambient lighting in the lounge. Here again, this decision was made so that the entire area would be very cohesive and immersive, said Lose. “When the wall is red, the lounge is red, and so forth.” Much credit for teamwork, he says, should go to John Fernandez from 4Wall, who was Project Manager for the lounge and bar installation.
Athey also emphasized the importance of teamwork in revitalizing this Las Vegas icon. “Howard Tribble of Warner Hospitality was the client, and he deserves a lot of credit for allowing us to be creative,” said the LD. “Also, John Moss, the head of Hard Rock Hotel AV, did an amazing job helping us integrate the system in the facility’s existing infrastructure. In the end, we accomplished something we can all be proud of — we did more than restore a Las Vegas landmark, we helped give it a new identity for a new era.”
And in the end, even the skeptics had to agree. The Las Vegas Weekly reporter who had been prepared to “hate whatever replaced it” went on record as praising the Center Bar’s “sleek new design” with a special shout-out to the “memorable LED installation on top of the bar.” Before Center Bar shut down earlier this summer, he said “I did the whole one-last-drink thing, reminiscing with friends about crazy nights spent there…So I went back, to hate on it. Except I love it.”
Hard Rock-Las Vegas Center Bar
Lighting Gear List
Dome
1 Chauvet VIP Media Server Pro w/ ArKaos Media Master Pro 4
267 Chauvet ÉPIX Strip 2.0 fixtures
16 Power Supplies
Color Changing Bar Front
1 Color Kinetics iPlayer 3 controller
78 Color Kinetics 12” iColor Cove EC Powercore fixtures
1 Doug Fleenor Design A/B DMX Switcher
Color Changing Ceiling Hexagons
1 Color Kinetics iPlayer 3 controller
162 Color Kinetics 12” MX Cove Powercore units
1 Doug Fleenor Design A/B DMX switcher
