Project Team
Design: Ryder Hampton
AV: NQAV
Builder: RCQ
Acoustic Engineers: Ask Consulting
Suppliers
Furniture: Prototype Products,James Richardson, Classic Chesterfields
Carpet: Brintons
The hotels proximity to the old wharf area and its role in the early history of ships plying their trade through the tropics gave the impetus for the styling.
Ffrom this, a design style evolved, that would take the patrons on a ‘tropical exchange’ through the northern waters to Singapore with it’s Chinese and colonial past which is reflected in the Jade Bar. The journey then takes us through to Indochina in the Tiger lounge, reflecting the colours and feel of the gentlemen’s clubs of Rangoon, Saigon and Bombay, the spice route. From here through to tropical north Africa in the night club Zanzi. Then it’s through the Caribbean where the tropics are reflected in the styling of the Long Bar with pineapples and panelled timbers and to return to Townsville with the special feel of the Verandahs and beer garden with its pergolas. The iconic red rock cliff faces which traditionally belong to this city, set the backdrop.
This concept allows for seven distinct trading areas with their individual styles and finishes alowing a diverse marketing approach covering wide
spectrum of events. This is not a poker machine venue.
The Jade Bar on the ground floor introduces the client to a sophisticated start to the journey through the tropical Exchange with
styling of a Singapore lounge. The antique asian panels over copper
acrylic mirror gives the impression of another room beyond. The open
spaces allows for large crowds for the live entertainment. Capturing the mystique of tropical Asia the goldleaf glass panels and timber screens to
the bar complete the atmosphere. The room has street access.
Continuing on with the theme of Tropical exchange, the Tiger Loungetakes on the mystique and character of the ‘Old Gentlemen’s Clubs established in Indo- China in the 18th & 19th centuries. The atmosphere is redolent of the clubs of Rangoon, Saigon and Bombay. Indian and Asian influences make this room the ideal meeting place along side the night club. A quiet interlude from the live music and dancing.
The antique Asian doors at the entry (circa 1700’s) offer that hint of exotica, enticing you into the comfort and seclusion of the world beyond. The Leather Chesterfield furnishings evoke the style of the golden age and are set against the animal print chaise-lounges, gold and black striped wallpaper and perimeter lighting to complete the picture.
The Bar is the focal point of the room as it should be, being the point of sale. The bar length allows for quick access to beverage with minimal time taken for service. Back loading buildouts allow for continuous supply of stock without interfering with sales and service. The décor of the back bar is startling with gold leaf tiles mirror and central motif of women and
tigers flanked by plant stands and ferns. Heavy marble bar tops with a generous bullnose, forms the perfect leaning point to access the bar.
The philosophy behind this bar is to create the ideal place to retire, from the live music and be able to converse and relax in comfortable surroundings that will make the night-out something special. The room must also be special enough to let out to functions and pre entertainment promotions groups or events.
The second side of this room is access to the verandah, which overlooks the Marina of Ross Creek. This aspect allows great flexibility in operations and promotions. The two spaces can have a food service.
The furniture was selected to provide a high level of comfort and durability whilst at the same time completing the design atmosphere of a club out of tropical Indo-China. The layout allows for large crowds to use the room both standing and sitting without the feeling of over crowding. The lighting was designed to highlight the perimeter of the room and the point of sale which becomes the main focus of the venue, thus allowing a gentle ambiance in the centre. The verandah is fresh, relaxed and tropical.
From the Tiger Bar to the style of Northern Africa, where Zanzi is a nightclub with a difference. Not a dark and heavy environment as with many nightclubs but a light and airy space where the whole floor space is dance floor, allowing the patrons to get into the mood of the LIVE MUSIC wherever they are in the room. The bars are designed for fast service with rear access for restocking the fridges. This room works in tandem with the quiet zone of the Tiger Bar.
The sound and lighting for the room incorporates some of the
latest in technology allowing it to work within the strict
parameters of energy constraints set for the hotel. The in house
equipment is provided for all the visiting artists. The system is integrated through the whole premises and major events can be seen and heard in all areas. The Zanzi room is also set up for conference and functions. Food can be served in both rooms and the Verandah.
Following with the theme, the Long Bar takes on a light Caribbean feeling with detailed fielded panels to the bar front and the Caribbean cottage windows reflected in the back-bar mirrors. The Pineapple motif on the wall opposite the bar is on a hand made wallpaper ex New York. This is the symbol of International hospitality and figures in various subtle variances throughout this level. The seagrass wall finish and silver grey stone floors lead into the comfortable dining area with its earthy tones and large doors to the Hill Garden terrace bar. The long bar stretches right through, from the front to the back of the hotel.
As the Journey returns you to the Tropical city, the icons of Townsville are highlighted in the Hill Garden bar. Pergolas and terrace areas for outdoor leisure are set against the red rock cliff face that is so very Townsville and to add to this a large Strangler fig gripping the rock face rises behind the stage area creating
the perfect backdrop to the live music. This area is serviced with its own bar and food service is available from the adjacent kitchen. The perfect outdoor eating area.
The hotel in keeping with the continuous theme of a Tropical
Exchange has live music throughout the whole hotel. All these acts can be channeled through the A/V system to all bar areas.
The layout of the venue consists of seven possible zones, being Jade Bar, The Long Bar, Bistro, Hill 60, Tiger Bar, Zanzi and a possible TAB zone in the future. Within these areas our contract included the installation of an Audio System, Visual Displays and infrastructure, Closed Circuit TV cameras, the communications within the building, stage lighting and a control system specifically designed on the equipment that was supplied. The system had to be flexible right from the start to allow changes as the project progressed, and the end result is a high class venue with the appropriate equipment to be able to manage a multi faceted entertainment venue.
Audio System
Given a brief overview of what the desired outcome of the venue was, a system was designed based on the seven zones. As part of the overview, we utilised whatever original equipment possible, whilst still providing the required result. JBL speakers were supplied throughout the venue, in particular the Control series were used in Jade, Long Bar, Bistro, Tiger and Zanzi. As Jade was to be utilised as a function room with an intimate feel, two Control 29AV’s, two Control 25AV’s and one Sub210 were used. This room was also to have two local wired inputs, one at the front and one at the rear for local sources such as DJ’s or Karaoke and presentations. The Long Bar is a Public Bar with three Control 25AV’s. The Bistro also has two Control 25AV’s for background music, also with a local input. Tiger Lounge was designed to have an increased spec to downstairs, with the possibility of providing an overflow from Zanzi nightclub adjacent. Four Control 29AV’s were installed, with two local wired inputs. Zanzi, being the Night Club, is setup in stereo in particular for DJ’s. This is to be a dance club, with regular open mic, hip hop nights, and various live bands. It is designed to be Townsville’s premier live music venue, with local, interstate and international touring bands.
The Soundweb London BLU-160 offers configurable I/O, configurable signal processing and a high bandwidth, fault tolerant digital audio bus.
The BLU-160 has open architecture which is fully configurable through HiQnet™ London Architect. A rich palette of processing and logic objects and a “drag and drop” method of configuration provide a simple and familiar design environment.
The front of house system installed consisted of two hanging AM4212speakers and two MRX518 subs punching out over 8000 Watts at peak, or 1670 Watts continuous. On top of the front of house there were seven Control 29AV’s installed, operating as fills for the room. With Zanzi having a stage for bands, a 16 send and 4 return cable snake was installed from the stage to the Bio-Box/DJ booth, connecting up to a 24 Channel Soundcraft Mixing Desk. The additional 8 channels were to be utilised by the three Shure SLX Beta 58 wireless microphones, local inputs from the DJ booth such as a PC, CDJ or effect processors etc. To reduce ongoing hire costs, a Shure DMK-52 Drum mic kit, SM94, two Beta 57, and four Beta 58 microphones were supplied. Four dbx 31 band equalisers and a JBL EON315 powered speaker was supplied to match the existing fully functional powered speakers for foldback. For keyboard and acoustic guitar connection to the mixing desk, four dbx DB12 active DI’s were supplied.
As requested by the venue, NQAV utilised whatever existing equipment possible. Therefore in the TAB area, four Turbosound Impact 50’s were installed and Hill 60 utilised three Turbosound Impact 80s. To control the whole venue’s audio switching, the BSS BLU160 and BLU BOB were installed. BSS was chosen for its reliability, ease of use, full DSP, accuracy and value. The BSS provided a matrix of all inputs capable of being switched to any output.
The flexibility that the venue has with this set up is outstanding. Being able to have a live band or DJ in one area, and can be sent through to any number of bars throughout the venue. Along with the wired inputs mentioned, there were also connections provided for five Nightlifesystems, three Austar decoders, five set top boxes for free to air television audio, one Shure SLX wireless microphone with reception across the whole site, and the output of the 24 channel mixing desk. In total 21 inputs switchable to any one or a number of the seven zones.
Amplifying the signal a range of Crown amplifiers were used, to match the quality in the JBL speakers, but also for their intelligent settings.
The Crown power amps have cross over points, multiple impedance ranges 70 Volt or 8 Ohm, EQ, Bridge, Stereo, Delay and limiter settings all software controllable from the front panel. Three CDi 1000’s, two CDi 2000’s and two XTi 4000’s provided the power for the speakers to reach the desired SPL which the venue is allowed. An existing Yamaha amplifier was also utilised to power the Hill 60 Turbosound’s.
Being the backbone of any venue, the audio system needed to be reliable, of significant quality, and easy to use. The system that NQAV designed and installed was based on providing outstanding flexibility, functionality and a good quality sound.
Visual System
Due to the amount of video sources, two systems were installed to provide the highest grade of signal possible from the source to the visual output device. With five nightlife systems, five HD set top boxes, three Austar channels, a Laptop input, and a camera pointing on the Zanzi stage, a Kramer 16 x 16 Video matrix was installed to switch the video signals. Given that the sources were only video signals, it made economic sense to provide video switching as opposed to modulating every video source to an RF signal. Again, being a matrix switching device, any signal, RF or Video can be played on any of the LCD monitors or Projectors
The second system was the RF free to air which provided the High Definition digital signal to every television. The set top boxes in the Kramer provided the tuning for the RF system to the projectors, whilst the 8 Samsung 46 inch commercial grade LCD’s had their own high definition digital tuners inside.
On top of the eight new LCD TV’s, two existing 42 inch monitors were used in the bistro, and a 32 Inch Panasonic LCD TV was installed at the front entry of the venue. This is for promotional use, as it is connected to the matrix, the stage camera can be displayed, as also the Nightlife system or RF signal.
Zanzi has two Mitsubishi DLP projectors installed, with the image thrown onto a 3 metre, Praxino 6mm optical acrylic, rigid rear projection screen. These screens were chosen to allow the projected image to be viewed from either side of the screen. The projectors are predominantly used for playing film clips from Nightlife, so whilst one side views the image in reverse it is of no great concern to viewers. Jade also has an existing NEC projector that was utilised from the existing setup, and another projector installed in Hill 60, projected onto a rigid surface.
CCTV System
Two 16 Channel Digital Video Recorders were setup to capture the 32 cameras installed across the venue and stored across six terabytes of hard drive space. Being a nightclub, and the operating hours of the venue, the dome cameras that had to have IR leds, be vandal proof and have a day /night lens. The whole system can be viewed across the Ethernet network and remotely. ID readers and Face recognition have been set up at the entry for scanning patrons into the night entertainment venue.
Communications
As part of electro-technology, this also included the in house communications for telephone, internet, fax, PC data network, POS data traffic and EFTPOS. In total, over 60 data outlets were installed, and to future proof such a significant installation, Krone Category 6 rated infrastructure was supplied.
A new Samsung OS7030 analogue keyphone system was supplied and installed for voice communications.
Stage Lighting
As the Exchange hotel has been in operation now for many years, there was a lot of existing lighting hardware that was able to be reused. Many of the lighting fixtures required a minor service and were operational again. The new equipment that was installed included two JLX Pro 2.35m lighting bars joined together to give us 12 outlets across 4.7m. These outlets ran down to a Wall mounted Patch system and then either into a 12 channel dimmer or directly into a 240 Volt power point – dependant on the lighting fixture.
Some new lighting fixtures were also supplied, including moving heads, 3D laser, LED Par Cans for the stage, and a fog machine. The lighting is being controlled from the original Behringer Eurolight 24 channel console that was in use previously.
Control System
Whilst having some of the worlds best equipment installed into the venue is great, being able to have staff use the system easily and quickly is paramount. As such, North Queensland Audio Visual supplied, installed and programmed a control system for the site and their specific equipment. Having two levels, one AMX ten inch touch panel was installed per floor, which controls the audio selection for each individual zone along with volume control.
The Visual system is also controlled through the AMX control system with TV channels, Nightlife systems, and any other input into the visual system, all at the touch of a button, able to be distributed to any of the 16 visual devices. Due to the flexibility and reliability of the AMX hardware, the CBus lighting and fan control system was also integrated into the touch panel interface. Whilst the lighting, fans and CBus were installed by the electrician, NQAV were able to integrate these systems into one, easy to use and intuitive system for the venue.
Given the type of venue, and to what level the sound could possibly reach, we also made the AMX control system shutdown the audio across the venue in the event of a fire alarm.
And just to ensure there would be no unwanted tampering with the system, the touch panels were password protected. The AMX system in total had 17 RS232 ports, 8 Relays, 8 Infra Red ports, 8 logic ports and an Ethernet through the Netlinx Controller and Network Module Shell.
Overall, the venue was renovated to an exceptional degree, and the electro technical systems were well matched to the outcome required. Given the short time frame, all trades worked well and in co-operation with each other, to obtain the result our client wanted which was to be Townsville’s top entertainment Pub!
The NXD-1000Vi is an incredibly versatile user interface, combining Wall/Flush Mount flexibility, Composite/S-Video support and the ability to create a high quality digital home/office intercom network or to make/receive digital local, long distance and international telephone calls.