Las Vegas is upping its EDM ante, with competition among its casino nightclubs intensifying to the point where the desert city (also now host to the biggest of the annual Electric Daisy Carnivals) might rival Miami, and eventually even Ibiza, with appearances by world’s most popular DJs. The most recent addition to the lineup of clubs welcoming big-name DJs is Hakkasan, at the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino. Since it opened in April 2013, Hakkasan, a name once associated mostly with Asian-fusion cuisine, has become synonymous with a no-holds-barred nightlife and clubbing experience.
Angels in Sin City
“Vegas has become the American Ibiza,” says Frank Murray, managing director of Audiotek, the Ireland-based lighting, video and sound design firm hired by Hakkasan Ltd. nightlife partner Angel Management Group (AMG). “And Hakkasan is killing it at the moment.”
Hakkasan’s restaurant, on the first and second level of the new five-level dining/nightclub complex, isn’t just another Chinese-themed eatery. It’s led by chef Ho Chee Boon, who brought in equipment and staff from Hong Kong and reportedly delayed the opening so the woks could be properly seasoned and “broken in” to yield just the right stir-fry flavor.
The same attention to detail prevailed for the brand’s giant step from food and mixology toward DJ entertainment, with a no-expense-spared approach to booking DJ talent. Tiësto, Deadmau5, Calvin Harris, Steve Aoki and a long roster of other big names have been drawing many thousands of revelers each night.
A Five-Level Project
Instead of attempting to extend its brand from dining to mixology to nightlife entirely on its own, Hakkasan Ltd. relied on AMG and Audiotek to transform the space previously devoted to MGM Grand’s Studio 54 into a world-class draw for top DJs and EDM fans.
The venue’s physical transformation involved a complete renovation; the old Studio 54 was gutted, reshaped and re-roofed with 1,200 tons of steel and 3,500 cubic yards of concrete. Estimates have put the total price tag for the resulting five-level, 85,000-square-foot restaurant and nightclub in the $120 to $200 million range.
In its finished form, Hakkasan presents the 10,000-square-foot Ling Ling club and lounge on level three, above the two levels devoted to fine dining. Hakkasan’s 35,000-square-foot main nightclub (with adjacent Pavilion area) and VIP balcony are on levels four and five.
As with the Ling Ling lounge and club, there’s a yin-yang balance of hyperkinetic electronic energy from the DJ booth and main dance floor along with a more natural, soothing vibe from the Pavilion area’s garden and waterfall features.
Guests in the main club area and VIP balcony have clear lines of sight to the DJ booth, with lighting and video features supporting the DJs. “The DJ is the star,” notes designer Andy Taylor, who worked with CAD designs on behalf of Audiotek and AMG. “Fixtures highlight the DJ.”
Main Club Lighting
AMG runs other night/day clubs in Las Vegas such as the Pure Nightclub and Venus Pool Club at Caesars Palace along with MGM Grand’s day club, Wet Republic. They relied on Audiotek to specify and supply the lighting and video gear, with a sound system assist from R2W, Inc.
4Wall’s Las Vegas office also played a key role in providing the entertainment lighting and rigging systems and assisting the union electrical contractors working on the initial on-site fixture hang. China-based Absen LED, meanwhile, supplied the video walls, and Sun City Electric and The Morse Group, respectively, served as the venue’s low and high voltage electrical contractors.
The main room’s lighting rig, controlled by a ChamSys MagicQ console, includes Robe Robin 300E Beams and Clay Paky Sharpys along with ETC Source Four LED Lustr+ fixtures, ELAR Quad panels and bars and Highlight Showtec 5×5 Matrix blinders.
Robe Robin 100 LEDBeams and 300 LEDWash fixtures also beam forth from the balcony/mezzanine level, and the main room also makes regular use of Martin Magnum 2000 fog machines, Salvin Design confetti cannons and CO2 units and RTI Nano 4 RYGB lasers.
AMG was “very specific about wanting the main balcony to be brought into the room; they didn’t want people to think that they would be stuck in blackness, looking on at the action and everyone having fun,” says Taylor.
Exquisite Extras
The main room features Tomcat 12” by 12” box truss above the dance floor in the shape of Hakkasan’s double “K” logo, installed by 4Wall. It is lined with Elation LED Flex Tape RGB WP and controlled with Elation ELAR-Driver-1 PRO units via DMX for a nice, uniform glow.
Another distinctive visual feature at Hakkasan is a luminous web of fiberglass gypsum set aglow by Elation Flex LED Pixel Tape that includes more than 25,000 LED light sources. Miami-based Audio Video Lighting Innovations (AVLI) handled the wiring and testing; Greg See and Michael Callahan programmed the LEDs using Madrix software.
“All I did was click a mouse 32,000 times,” says Callahan. “The ceiling is broken down into sections, and each section is a 30-by-20 trapezoid. With Madrix, we defined every pixel.” That way, Callahan adds, “we could control color effects, patterns or anything the club wanted.”
The club’s in-house video content designer, Ed Shaw, credited the setup for making it possible for synchronization with colors and effects used for the lighting and video elements. “It’s all time-coded and triggered from the lighting desk.”
A ChamSys lighting console handles control, working together with a media server running Madrix software. The networked system also includes 19 Enttec Datagate Mk2 peripherals running Art-Net. The LED web feature makes use of 144 universes of DMX. “You can do as many layers with Madrix as your computer will allow,” Callahan notes.
Pavilion and Ling Ling
Designed to be both an extension and independent of the main room, the Pavilion area’s rig also includes Robe Robin 300E Beams, Martin MAC 350 Entours, Clay Paky Sharpys, ETC Source Four LED Lustr+ fixtures. Although the area is equipped with its own ChamSys MagicQ console, the networked system lets the lighting operator for the main room control the Pavilion fixtures as well.
The truss design, which forms a multi-
sided geometric shape that “picks up on the fretwork patterns of the restaurant design,” according to Taylor, is also accented with Elation LED Flex Tape RGB WP and controlled via Elation ELAR-Driver-1 PRO units
The Ling Ling Club and Lounge are lit with new Robe Robin Pointe fixtures, 300 LEDWashes, 100 LED Beams and DLX Spots along with Solaris Flare RGBW LED strobes and Altman Blacklight UV-705s, with a ChamSys MagicQ Maxi Wing for control. Taylor credits 4Wall for the area’s tidy cabling.
Getting it Done
“We let the designer be creative and then we figure out the best way for it to fit the venue,” notes 4Wall’s Brent Pritchett, citing the firm’s prowess at dealing “with the wiring and data transfers and signal flow” for complex lighting installations.
While pleased with such touches as the even glow of the LED tape on the logo-shaped truss for the main club room, along with truss arcs that serve as visual parentheses for the logo-shaped truss element, Pritchett also spoke of some areas that might be tweaked, going forward.
A case in point: Lutron Electronics’ architectural lighting, which currently lacks DMX network and entertainment-protocol capability, might be updated with a system that can interface with the club’s theatrical lighting system.
“We designed the network backbone that all the lighting positions received, and then we provided DMX gateways or nodes to do conversions on each position,” notes Pritchett. “We made sure that they had flexibility.”
Other improvements have already taken place to iron out a few kinks, such as a quick swap in fixture positions to deal with problems arising with confetti cannons and overly-large intake fans, causing some of the fixtures to thermal out.
The 4Wall crew also worked overtime to accommodate an eleventh-hour request to replace rented fixtures with purchased gear just before the all-important Memorial Day weekend.
Immersive Video
Along with the ceiling-spanning LED web, AMG creates an immersive visual environment with an assortment of AI06 full-color LED and K6 screens (with aluminum frames) specified by Audiotek and supplied by Absen LED.
“There are three screens in the main room and two other locations, which contain screens that are all between 5mm and 6mm resolution,” says Audiotek’s Murray.
Video screens behind the main DJ booth, with a resolution of 2560 by 240, are curved, while others run the length of the main room, with a total surface area in the neighborhood of 125 square meters.
Murray notes that because the architectural curves required by the design were “engineered into the walls at the factory and slotted into the place on site,” it was “crucial” that the custom panels adhere to strict tolerances.
Custom Content
Shaw says he and his team have been creating content for the screens using a mix of Autodesk’s 3DS Max and Maya modeling and animation software along with Maxon’s Cinema 4D.
“The brief was a series of PDF files, sent over a period of a month via e-mail, including style references from hotels to films to Asian influences,” Shaw says. “Content varies from 2D minimal, based around the Hakkasan logo, to more complex 3D animation.”
Standard or set video content is being used for some portions of the evening, including the nightly dance performances, or “vignettes,” as Shaw refers to them. “Visuals, at those times, tend to be more moving wallpaper so it doesn’t detract from the performances,” says Shaw.
Video control is made possible via Resolume VJ software and MadMapper along with Crestron DigitalMedia AV distribution, switching and operating systems.
Shaw finds the ability to trigger animated chases between different screens to be particularly effective. “We can use just the center screen, or top screen or DJ booth — whatever works best with specific lighting.
“We work very closely with lighting,” Shaw adds. “It’s a constant talk and development throughout the night.” Taylor agrees, noting the coordinated hues for lighting and video elements — just another example of how the club is impressing guests, not just with the large-scale attractions, but with a wall-to-wall attention to minute details.
“At first I was surprised by how massive this project was. But everything ended up where we wanted it. It’s a great layout for a club,” Taylor says. “Even the little things, around the periphery, I’m proud of. It’s the spaces in between that has made all the difference.”
Hakkasan Gear List
Lighting
Main Club (Level Four)
16 Robe Robin 300E Beams
16 Martin MAC 350 Entours
16 Clay Paky Sharpys
20 ETC Source Four LED Lustr+
14 Elation Flex LED Tape WPs
Balcony/Mezzanine (Level Five)
18 Robe Robin 100 LEDBeams
9 Robe Robin 300 LEDWashes
8 ETC Source Four Lustr+ units
(with shutter barrels)
Pavilion (Level Four)
12 Robe Robin 300E Beams
4 Martin MAC 350 Entours
8 Clay Paky Sharpys
8 ETC Source Four Lustr+
8 Elation ELAR Quad Panels
8 Elation ELAR Quad Bars
38 Elation Flex LED Tape WP
Ling Ling Club & Lounge (Level Three)
34 Robe Robin 100 LEDBeams
6 Robe Robin 300 LEDWashes
12 Robe Robin Pointes
6 Robe Robin DLX Spots
7 Solaris Flare RGB LED strobes
3 Altman Black Light UV-705s
Lighting Control
1 MagicQ MQ300 console
1 MagicQ MQ60 console
1 MagicQ Maxi Wing console
Video Screens
Mezzanine: 6mm screen
(1408 x 896 resolution)
Behind Main DJ Area: 6mm curved
screen (2560 x 240 resolution)
DJ Booth: 5.2mm (960 x 192 resolution)
Pavilion: 6mm (1664 x 192 resolution)
Ling Ling Club: 6mm (1532 x 96
resolution)
Web Ceiling
Elation Flex LED Pixel Tape
19 Enttec Datagate Mk2 peripherals
1 Enntec Datagate Mk2 (for fire alarm)
1 ChamSys console
