The event, which took place over two days, was a high profile affair featuring presenters and performers including Sharon Stone, Richard Gere, Paris Hilton, Monica Belluci, Tom Jones and Seal.
Two multi-media shows took place over the two days, the first at the Grand Inauguration on 23 May, the second the following day at the Dance of the Scorpion beach party on the hotel's Scorpion Pier.
For the Grand Inauguration, Smith wanted to celebrate the historical influences, modern technology and imagination which go into creating a hotel such as the Mardan Palace.
"I wanted to bring to the hotel launch a bit of soul, to breathe life into the design processes and influences which bring the actual construction into being," explains Smith.
The show also celebrated the idea of East meets West as represented in the architecture of the hotel itself. "One wing represented Anatolya which we depicted with giant video projection and aerial belly dancers, emphasising the passion of the orient with choreographed flames," says Smith.
"The second wing represented Europe which we visualised with a daring silk aerial act, high above the audience's heads, and infused with a fountain ballet; the two were then linked by the middle section with a laser representation of the famous Bosphorus Bridge, representing Turkey."
Each section of the hotel was individually highlighted and 'brought to life' during the performance before reaching an explosive crescendo at the finale.
The evening's events centred around the inner pool courtyard and used multi-media effects to illustrate these historical, technological and imaginative references. The building façade, roof tops, lighthouse tower, the pool itself and even the beach beyond, acted as projection surfaces, resulting in over 200m of video projection. More than 700 pyrotechnic firing points on the facade and in excess of 30 lasers, choreographed flames and fountains were also used, augmenting the performances of the aerial performers.
In all a total of 30 trailers and 150 crew were required to bring this spectacle to fruition. "The evening was very well received," states Smith.
LSE's team for the event was headed by managing director, Patrick Awouters and included technical director, Erik Lybeer, lighting director, Theo Cox and project coordinator Marc Agboton.
(Jim Evans)
