Anolis at The City Club, Czech Republic

The City Club in Rožnov is one of the most popular night destinations in Moravia, Czech Republic. It features a coffee bar, small casino, and restaurant as well as an action packed dance floor by architect/interior designer Karel Janca; and a high-tech lighting installation from locally based Robe lighting. Recently, the time then came to upgrade the environmental lighting in the club area.

Pavel Zed, the club's owner asked Robe's sister company, Anolis, via Czech sales manager Petr Kolmacka, to come up with an interesting, eye-catching eco-friendly lighting scheme that would transform the general atmospherics in the club area.

Says Kolmacka, "It was a great honor to be asked to present ideas, as Mr. Zed has a high regard for production values, and wants nothing but the best for his venue to keep it as the 'must-go' destination in the area." He adds that the breadth of the Anolis range was a real help in being able to choose the appropriate fixtures for the right areas.

He had an open brief apart from the fact that the end result had to look "absolutely stunning, modern and now," and came back with the idea that the DJ should be able to change the mood of the room -- not just the dance floor -- with different colors.

A total of 36 Anolis ArcLink flexible LED strips were installed behind the two large bars in the club, and these color-change through the metal front fascias, which are cut out with gobo-style patterns. The bottle shelves are also back lit with more Arc-Links.

Eleven ArcSource TwinWall 6 RGB wall washing fixtures are used to bathe the back wall behind the stage with bold colors, with three ArcLine 36 battens skimming down a mirrored textured wall to the side of the DJ booth. Underneath the banquette seating on the other side of the dance floor are four ArcLine 24s, providing a moody, low level ambience for this area.

Kolmacka wanted to make a lighting feature over the bar that was something a bit quirky and different. He was suddenly inspired when he saw some standard "puff-ball" lights (for domestic use) constructed from many thousands of fiber strands. He decided to customize these by embedding a single Anolis ArcSource 3 RGB LED module in the middle, which has the effect of radiating pulses and sweeps of rich colors beautifully along the fiber threads, creating a unique light source.

There are a total of nine of these hanging above both bars -- eight medium-sized and one large.

The bottoms of the bar fronts are also trimmed with ArcLink strips, and the pillars throughout the club, complete with metal sheeting and cut-out City Club logos, are back illuminated with Anolis ArcLine 24s.

In the casino, a panel bearing the City Club logo is internally lit with an ArcLink Optic 4 RGBW fixture, set on an internal chase programmed on the Anolis ArcPower driver.

Control of all the Anolis sources throughout the City Club is via a Robe DMX 1024 console situated in the DJ booth, which is also controlling the dance floor lighting, giving the option of manual or auto operation.

A total of four Anolis ArcPower 144s, two ArcPower 72s and two ArcPower 36 drivers are used throughout the whole installation.

Kolmacka concludes, "Adding the Anolis to the club area has already been hugely popular with City Club regulars, and the lighting is a major talking point. The clientele really value the good atmosphere and vibe, and appreciate how this can be enhanced with carefully considered lighting that can be both subtle and spectacular."