Posted on: 26th October 2005, United Kingdom E-mail this page to a friend

Gatecrasher's long-awaited second club is set to open in Leeds this month following a £3 million fit-out.

Named 'Discothéque', the 1400-capacity venue is the cornerstone of Gatecrasher's plans to increase turnover to £11.2 million by 2007 with the launch of their 'Boutique Blueprint' – an ambitious new clubbing concept set to take the late night industry by storm.

Featuring an expansive and flamboyant interior design scheme from Matt Rawlinson Design, Discothéque is also pioneering a groundbreaking new video dancefloor technology with the first installation of the new Ayrton DreamPanel.

Distributed in the UK by Ian Kirby's Lighting Effects Distribution, who are providing design support, the system has been installed as part of an automated lighting package by Hugh Frazer-Mann's HFM Lighting & Sound Ltd.

The DreamPanel floor will be controlled from the Catalyst Pro v3.3 Media Server, supplied by David March's Projected Media and programmed by Dan Turner of Video Perspective.

Frazer-Mann explained, "Gatecrasher were looking at different heavily-pixellated LED wall and floor effects, including an interactive video floor. But they wanted to go further, and when Gatecrasher's Gary Howard told me about DreamPanel, which offers very good, high-resolution quality I went to Ayrton's showrooms in Paris and became very excited."

DreamPanel is a 50cm x 50cm modular video tile designed for screen floor application, with an internal structure designed to withstand heavy loads and shocks received directly from the tile. The 170° angle image diffusion system allows for clear off-axis vision.

Conceived for diffused graphic animation DreamPanel provides a surprisingly good video rendering (800 x 600 native resolution, with a pixel pitch of 31.25mm) when the display area is of adequate size. The system's resolution allows maximum displays of 25m x 18m to be spread over a total area of 450 sq. metres, and the lifetime (run at 50% brightness) is 50,000 hours.

Frazer-Mann says the 140-panel system proved surprisingly easy to install – flush to the rest of the floor. He says that once a perspex-covered version has been developed for touring purposes he hopes to introduce it to HFM's rental stock.

The DreamPanel is not the only stunning LED effect being supplied by Lighting Effects Distribution.

They have already equipped Discothéque with 16 Tracpod 81's (an eight-lamp lighting bar featuring 648 LED's) for decoration in the main dance area – adding to the 20 already supplied to Gatecrasher Sheffield.

A 60-lamp 'catwalk' walkway in the basement of the two-level venue has been designed by Matt Rawlinson, featuring Solar MR16 6W effects on a colour-changing grid – part of a much larger order for the fittings, which are used throughout the building.

"I saw these at last year's PLASA Show, and I knew they were highly intensive, producing a great kick," said the designer.

Rawlinson's design is described as "a botanical lounge, full of Versace bling upstairs, with Lumitex gold and gold-painted mannequins. It will be lots of fun with a mirrored ceiling."

He says, "We are using black japanned MDF screens either side – almost William Morris in style, with high gloss lacquer which gives a reflection from the LED. I have used brass and 60's sputnik lamps like gold snowflakes."

The new Discothéque occupies a famous site in Leeds city centre. Previously Club Uropa, it was for many years the legendary Mr. Craig's (run by entrepreneur Michael Craig).

The venue will feature two floors, six bars, a separate VIP suite, an interactive lighting system and the Gatecrasher signature sound system for the world's leading DJ's and acts to play on. The relaxed plush surroundings are a move away from the trance image of the Gatecrasher of old and a move into a mixture of all styles of music that will suit the club's more discerning customer.

The company's aim is to open ten sites in major cities across the UK over the next three years, including Birmingham and Bristol.

Simon Raine, Managing Director at Gatecrasher, comments on the change in direction for the brand: "As part of the growth on our hugely successful brand, we are retaining the values of our dance music roots but offer a proposition to the more aspirational customers that the main stream operators don't understand and can't deliver."