A sister to the hugely popular riverside watering hole Siana, Siana Valley in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley is a large, glass fronted venue split over three levels.

Overlooking the Valley police precinct, Siana Valley opens to the road on two sides and has a massive bar and cafe area at ground level. Upstairs is the dining room, designed with the same seating format used in the city of long, lit high tables and comfy padded stools lined up in perfect rows. At the end of the seating is an open kitchen where the flare of wok burners create a culinary theatre.

The venue is the brainchild of Insyde Restaurant Group (formerly Plaza Foods) who wanted to create a spacious contemporary venue with sensational décor in four zones flowing over the levels. With more than 790 sqm of floor space, the purpose-built multi-level venue has intimate corners for relaxed lounging, plus lots of space for the restaurant, main bar, lounge and VIP pool room.

The design of the venue was done in-house by the Insyde Restaurant Group and has many unique features such as a $40,000 glass top pool table, back-lit twenty-four seat communal banquet tables and three custom designed stainless light fittings. These three spiral stainless light fittings have fluorescent tube lighting and add a unique touch to the lighting in the venue.

“We were trying to achieve a chic bar with a relaxed feel, something to appeal to the masses yet sleek enough to attract those looking for a nice watering hole without having to go to a nightclub or a restaurant alone,” explained Grant Johnston, managing director of Insyde. “An Asian inspired theme runs throughout with the use of artwork, textiles and clean lines.”

The materials chosen are all rich in colour using golds, rich reds, black granite and composite tiles creating a streamlined yet luxurious feel. This is all tied in with the use of the extensive Asian themed artwork adorning the walls.

“What really ties the concept together are the streamlined fixtures and fittings, paired with a rich colour scheme and custom designed artworks,” said Grant. “This is our second Siana – so a lot of the inspiration came from the original Siana in Brisbane City. Being a bar and a restaurant we need to use hard wearing textures built to last the distance whilst still looking aesthetically pleasing.”

The low level backlit banquet tables keep the dining space intimate without drawing too much attention to a strongly lit dining room. Subtle lighting used throughout the venue can all be pre-programmed to dim at certain times. The focal point of the lighting are the three giant custom built sphere shaped lights lining the ceiling in the bar area, lit with red tube lights it adds colour and draws the eye.

The upstairs lounge is cosy and comforting, the dining room is quirky and fun, the bar is streamlined and cool with bi-fold doors inviting the outside in – perfect for Queensland weather.

Siana is very leading edge in their approach to the choice of lighting for this venue - with LED lighting being the main focus from the owner which Moonlighting and ITC Cardno delivered. Australian made LED fittings were supplied by Moonlighting with outstanding ambiance and atmosphere achieved in this very popular Brisbane venue. Siana was awarded a Commendation Award at the IES (Illuminating Engineering Society) Awards night this year which is highly regarded recognition within the lighting industry.

EventSound’s Greg Calvert was commissioned to install the audio requirements for the venue and chose the Acoustic Technologies ALA series to deliver a result that the new venue’s owners are extremely satisfied with.

The room is almost entirely surrounded by glass windows and doors as well as polished stone and timber surfaces that generate a lot of acoustic reflections. By utilising Acoustic Technologies’ latest speaker technology the result is an evenly distributed audio reproduction. Using ALA02T system elements eliminated any difficulties generated by so many reflective surfaces. The ALA series also perfectly suited the minimalist aesthetic of the room with their colour-matched finish and low-profile design.

Sub bass reproduction is handled by LGB03s that are discreetly hidden in the walls and integrated into air conditioning infrastructure, delivering a seamless, aesthetically pleasing result.

A selection of custom Acoustic Technologies ceiling speakers were also used to provide reinforcement in the restaurant areas of the venue.

Audio system:
15 x AT ALA -2T Architechural Line Array Speakers
06 x AT LGB03 Dual 10″ Sub Low cabinets - hidden in the bulkhead
35 x AT CS60 Premium Hi Fidelity two way Ceiling Speakers
10 x Ecler 103 Speaker cabinets hidden in the furnishings
02 x Ecler MPA 4-400 4 channel Professional Power Amplifier
02 x Ecler MPA 680 6 channel Professional Power Amplifier
01 x Ecler XPA 3000 2 ch. Power Amplifier
01 x Ecler DLA 600 Dual 100v Output Adaptor for toilets / outer areas
01 x AT DSP 4-8 Digital System Processor - 4 in, 8 out - 6 band Eq on all outs - Crossver - Delay - Limiter - Gain - User lockout coded
01 x A&H Line Mixer
01 x Digital SPL Computer - 2 ch.
01 x Platium CD System - PC based music player
01 x M-Stream PC based Music / Video player
02 x Symetrix 422 AGC - Automatic Gain Controllers
01 x Toa WM4800 UHF Wireless Microphone system
01 x Ecler HAK360 Flagship 2 channel DJ Scratch Mixer
02 x Pioneer CDJ900 Pro CD Turntables
02 x Technics SL1200 Premium Vinyl Turntables

Vision System
4 x Samsung Series 7 - 55″ LCD Screens
4 x Samsung Series 6 - 42″ LCD Screens on Custom brackets
1 x VS-88 8×8 Video switcher -remote and RS232 controled
1 x HDTV Decoder - 2 Foxtel Decoders
Multi channel C-BUS Lighting Dimmer system and controllers