32 Degrees co-owner Barry Gutin wanted to stay a jump ahead of the city's fierce competition, so he commissioned Scott Kemly of Powerhouse Sound (Cherry Hill, New Jersey) to give the lounge a lighting makeover.
Having done the original installation, Kemly had ideas on not only how to update the room, but how to do so with minimal structural modification and expense. Previously, there had been a huge sphere in the centre of the ceiling, lit by purple neon. Surrounding the sphere were dangling strands of glass beads, interlaced with a fiber optic lighting system. Around the sphere, in the ceiling itself, were recessed lights that were used during the daytime for down lighting.
Kemly removed the sphere, neon lights and recessed lights, replacing them with Elation's Alkalite Riva 80 colour-mixing LEDs. Three Riva 80 systems, consisting of eight recessed LED pods each, were installed in the ceiling holes where the recessed lighting had been. Each of the 24 pods features 80 red, green and blue LEDs, providing full 100% additive colour mixing.
The original glass bead strands remain, only now instead of being lit with neon, they reflect the ever-changing rich colours of the LEDs. "Typically, lots of people used neon together with rope lights, but the problem with the old lights was that they were stuck with a single colour - purple," said Kemly. "I told them that Elation made this recessed LED light that gives you the ability to change the room's colours, which would look great reflecting off the glass strands."
(Jim Evans)
