Installation Gala for Projected Image Digital

Date Announced: 30 Mar 2006 Projected Image Digital (PID) has supplied Element Labs Versa™TUBEs® and Versa™TILEs® LED products for two new Gala Casino installations – one in Tottenham Court Road, London and one in Leicester.In both cases, the TUBES and TILES were specified by designer Paula Reason from Cadmium Design. Reason who likes to integrate lighting and kinetic energies into her interior designs, and the two Gala installations followed on from her pioneering work using VersaTILES in the bar at London’s recently refurbished Hard Rock Café. This was where she first met PID.The Tottenham Court Road Gala installation utilises 45 VersaTUBES. which are integrated vertically into a central feature of the main bar on the first floor. This is part of an extensive aesthetic revamp for the venue. The physical installation was completed by Viking Electrics and PID commissioned the TUBEs to Reason’s specification. The lighting feature gives the space a completely new lease of life and vitality – immediately drawing guests to the bar and breaking the ice as a conversation piece.PID’s David March says, “It was great working with Paula and Cadmium again after the Hard Rock project. It’s inspiring seeing someone who is clearly tuned in to the great atmospheric enhancing potential of these products and is using them in new and innovative ways”.Reason and PID collaborated on creating the video content for the TUBES, producing 18 clips, ranging from dreamy clouds to liquid abstracts and other elements like fire. These were all programmed onto one of Element Labs’ C1 controllers by PID, which can be selected to run a variety of preset patterns and effects.The Leicester installation is a new build and has a totally different feel to it from TCR. The bar is again semi-circular, but the room is much bigger, airier and more contemporary than the London site. The TUBE installation again uses 45 fixtures in a similar configuration, with glass shelves running around the feature so the lighting interacts with all the bottles.Leicester has an ice theme, so blues and frosty purples are the predominant ‘standard’ content colour, whereas at Tottenham Court Road, the feel is faster and more clubby, so red is the main colour. However both venues have several alternative sets of content and colours plus additional clips for special events and occasions – one of the many advantages of the system’s versatility.To the side of the bar in Leicester is the card room, which features – for the first time in the UK – VersaTILE x 3 strips, each containing a five pixel unit measuring10 cm high and 50 cm long. The panels – 62 in total - are set into the wall and curve elegantly around the Card Room which is accompanied by dark and moody lighting. There is also a series of plasma screens between the blocks of tiles.Paula Reason explains that they wanted something impressive in here but that didn’t distract people playing, so the content is gentler and slower with lots of calming blues. The card room can also be cleared and the glass screen folded back so it becomes an extension to the bar area - and at the touch of a button - the TILE content can be jazzed up to match that of the bar.There’s two C1 controllers in Leicester – one each for bar and Card Room. Cadmium and PID again produced all the content for both controllers, and the electrical installation was undertaken by G T Ranby.Reason comments that the managers at both sites have “Really engaged in the product and can see the benefits as the light radiates into the people drinking, chatting and interacting, creating a unique energy and vibrancy”.Timing was the principal challenge for PID on both installations, but particularly Leicester, where they worked alongside the main building contractor Hursts, who built and fitted the rear bar panels into which the TUBES are fixed. At Tottenham Court Road, main contractors WFC came up with a very elegant solution for slotting the tubes into the back of the bar without having to use their proprietary brackets, making the process extremely quick.Reason has enjoyed working with PID again, “The installation team were great . They are extremely helpful, always respond well to requests, are open to suggestions and are accessible and proactive”.Gala’s project manager Clive Baldwin says, “Being a leading player in the leisure sector, Gala Casinos are always looking for cutting edge designs to keep us one step ahead of the competition. We’ve certainly achieved this with the VersaTUBES and VersaTILES at out London and Leicester sites. Senior operations personnel are particularly pleased with the overall designs, and are keen to progress with these ideas on future schemes.”

Contact
David March 020 8840 5885

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Web Site:http://www.projectedimagedigital.com