Area

The Brief

Area, one of London’s Vauxhall clubs, asked Halo to install an LED curved matrix as well as a full lighting rigging structure to their ceiling. The club was built inside an old brick railway arch and the brief was to bolt the steel structure to the arch and ensure it would be adjustable in all directions to compensate for the difference between the rough brick arch and the precise geometry of the curved grid.

The Installation

The basic building block of the matrix were 5 x 5 LED panels. The LEDs were mounted in custom made, sealed ‘trays’ with transparent acrylic covers. This was to protect against condensation when the club is busy and from the occasional leakage of rainwater through the old brickwork.

We installed a total of 19,075 RGB LEDs in the grid pattern that curved to follow the line of the ceiling. Each LED was controlled individually using ‘Archaos’ software on a dedicated computer. This allows graphics and video to be played across its surface.

We also installed 60 open grid squares. Each grid square containing either a mini green laser, moving head spot or moving head LED wash. All these fixtures were controlled using ‘Showcad’ software. A further 2 high power RGB lasers were mounted above the DJ position.

The installation also included smoke, haze and CO2 machines all controllable from the DJ booth.