Elation Lighting Adds Unique Touch to Cove Manila, Philippines

	Cove Manila, Philippines

Cove Manila is Southeast Asia's newest entertainment space, an amazing 9,000sqm, $200 million entertainment venue touted as the largest indoor beach club in the world. Located in Okada Manila, a five-star integrated resort in the Philippines capital, Cove Manila also includes a luxurious nightclub that's putting the country on the map as an EDM stop for top DJs. The entertainment technology package used to dress the venue in lighting and visual effects is, not surprisingly, large with a host of top manufacturers involved including Elation Professional and sister companies ADJ and Acclaim Lighting.

Cove Manila, with its cool bayside atmosphere, five-star amenities plus nightclub, lies within a 120-meter wide by 40-meter high glass-domed space. The audiovisual design for the indoor Beach Club and nightclub includes over 1,000 lighting fixtures, which work from a variety of locations -- palm trees, swimming pool, Jacuzzis, centerpiece chandelier, stage, roof tops, and elsewhere. "There are 16 different types of fixtures in the club which ensures that every event and show is unique," states Ted Mizrahi of Mizrahi Show Designs, who serves as technical director for the space and is responsible for everything entertainment technical, including the lighting and visual design, which he partnered on with designer Evan Bloom to help create the club's kinetic centerpiece.

Mizrahi says his role as technical director allowed him to take control of the design and make more efficient and effective lighting decisions. "I was involved from the start so I've been able to influence a lot of things like the infrastructure and fixture choice," he says. "The lighting design for the Beach Club was achieved by starting with the goal of having lights and effects in every location surrounding the club. The large visual package gives the ability to cover any event or performance in the space with a distinct look. It allows them to play with different fixtures to get a variety of looks so you don't see the same light show over and over."

Much of the large lighting package can be found at the performance stage but there is also an abundance of fixtures in surrounding locations. Fourteen artificial palm trees in the Beach Club for example house moving lights, strobes, blinders, washes, and lasers for a disco effect from every direction, while a custom 15m diameter kinetic centerpiece chandelier, capable of thousands of visual effects, houses video and lighting to engulf guests in an immersive nightlife party.

Mizrahi uses Elation Cuepix Blinder WW2 fixtures to cover multiple lighting roles in the space. Mounted in each palm tree, in the centerpiece chandelier, on the main stage truss and in the DJ booth, the white light LED blinders are used for blinding, strobing, washes, chases, and even function as work lights. "We looked at architectural wash fixtures but they were very expensive," the designer explains. "We chose to use Cuepix fixtures and have them spread around the venue. They are versatile and are good for an even wash of light, are bright, and spread light well in the massive space. We even have them up in rooftop custom rigging pieces where they function as work lights and are programmed to work with the emergency lighting system. We burn them all day and all night and they are holding up well." Also used from the palm trees to light the Beach Club stage area are one-meter long Elation SixBar 1000s color-changing battens, as well as Elation ELED Fresnel II warm white wash lights.

Mizrahi looked at a variety of products when researching lighting effects for Cove Manila and took a close look at the ACL 360 Bar LED battens at the 2017 Prolight + Sound exhibition. "Elation had some unique products compared to other manufacturers," the designer says. "I wanted a 360-degree rotating effect that projected a blade of light and the ACL 360 Bar was the answer. They throw from 50' down to the floor and give a different look than moving lights," which he says are ubiquitous in other clubs. "Other venues just use moving heads but these give the rig a different look." The ACL 360 Bars are used in both the Beach Club and the nightclub surrounding the stage, in moving trusses and also work from the centerpiece chandelier. "The effect from the ACL 360s really sticks out," Mizrahi says. "We wanted a more unique look and they give us that."

Among the venue's efforts to minimize the environmental footprint while saving on power and bulb changes is a reliance on all LED fixtures. "Because no xenon sources are used anywhere, we were able to build the entire AVLR system using only 600 circuits," says Mizrahi. "If this was xenon it would have been more than triple that. Because the LED creates little to no heat, the fixtures longevity before failure increases tenfold. The brands were also selected as they are the most commonly specified brands for clubs and concerts. I have been working with most of these manufacturers as they deliver the best support along with the best products." The Elation, ADJ, and Acclaim lighting, as well as the Antari M-7 LED fog machines used in the venue, were supplied by Pacific Technical Products Pte Ltd (PTP) through their local supplier Maxitech.