VSI teamed up with architectural lighting specialists i-Vision and HLN Architects from Cardiff early on in the project, and all three disciplines worked together to develop the space, feel and all-important ambience of the Nantgarw venture.
The Castle Bingo site in Bridgend had included feature lighting for the Tower Room hospitality suite during a recent refurbishment. The concept was so successful that owners Castle Leisure decided to expand the theme and further invest in lighting and technology at the 1000 seat Nantgarw site, north of Cardiff.
Castle Leisure is proactively redefining the nature of Bingo, seeking to attract new audiences in addition to traditional Bingo aficionados by offering dynamic, up-market, modern environments with an air of sophistication and excellent facilities.
Richard Vaughan led the project for VSI. "We've enjoyed a long and productive relationship with both Castle Leisure and HLN, and benefited from a client and architect who are willing to consult and listen to their suppliers for new ideas and ongoing improvements".
To look after the project's numerous lighting elements, Vaughan invited i-Vision's Geoff Jones onboard, who was also involved in lighting previous Castle sites including Bridgend and Newport. Jones says, "Working alongside HLN Architects and VSI from such an early stage was hugely constructive all round. It gave us all the chance to develop an energetic creative and practical dialogue that tackled the challenges, using the available technology intelligently with maximum effect".
Lighting
Tower RoomsFollowing on from the Tower at Bridgend, the double storey Tower Hospitality suites at Nantgarw are on one of the corners of the building, running adjacent to the main approach road – effectively acting as a beacon after dark. This corner and the reception area (on the next corner) are constructed from glass blocks – a standard Tower Room feature, and now becoming a Castle visual hallmark along with its blue neon 'Castle Bingo' signage.
Geoff Jones specified i-Vision's Lumos LED strips to illuminate the exterior walls of both glass bricked areas, which were cut to custom lengths of 72, 56 and 36 LEDs and discreetly installed behind pelmets in the window framework.
New Concept Reception
Lighting in the reception area is completely unique. Both client and architects wanted energy conservation high on the agenda, so in consultation with Chris Lloyd from SWALEC Contracting, Vaughan and Jones recommended that the entire space was lit with LED.
"It was a brave move by everyone" states Jones "You can demonstrate and draw up as many computer models as you like, but not until you actually see it in situ, can you be totally sure that this type of lighting is going to work" .
In addition to the colour changing LED strips illuminating the glass brick outside walls, a combination of different colour temperature white LED fixtures are installed for task lighting and to create a comfortable working environment.
These are a combination of 6800°K and 3200°K wall mounting lights. Light is reflected off the roof and back down to the floor using RGB fixtures rather then white ones - for more sensitive colour temperature control. In the majority of the area featuring white walls and glass lit by Lumos RGB fittings, 3200° is the dominant temperature.
Above the Ash reception desk, a bluer pool of 6800° light makes an ideally lit area for the receptionists to work comfortably. These different colour temperature fixtures are all from Lumos range of MR16 equivalents. The entrance doors are lit with custom made white Lumos 1200 strips installed discreetly alongside the air curtain.
Inside
Inside the main auditorium, more attention has been given to lighting than in any previous Castle Bingo property. "The challenge here was to add ambience without turning it either a glitzy casino or a nightclub" says Jones.
LED strips are again used to highlight the AWP areas (Amusements With Prizes) or gaming machine areas and also to highlight the raised VIP areas within the club.
The AWPs were tricky areas to light. It was imperative that people aren't distracted from playing, so lighting had to be subtle and contained. This was another creative concept worked on collectively by Jones, Vaughan and architects, Tony Ash and Richard Thomas. The created an inverted bulkhead running around the walls of the room, 600 mm below the ceiling height, lit with multiple Lumos LINK fixtures.
That same principal is carried through to the raised ceiling over the VIP area in the main room. These have a square void above that's also illuminated with Lumos LINKS, adding a spatial focus defining the VIP area.
The main auditorium walkways and stage are denoted by slightly dropped ceilings and lit with Lumos 3 recessed down-lighters rather than conventional white ones
The Main Stage
Richard Thomas from HLN asked Paul Adams from PAI to take a look at the main stage, with a view to creating a real WOW factor for visitors. All the action centres around this stage once the main game starts, so it became the focal point of the room.
Developing the light box concept, Adams looked at several products including Marveon LED in an opaque tube - and showed this to HLN. As a team they came up with a 30 metre wide chevron style design in two halves, either side of the central LED video screen following the lines of the room. This is built from 64 tubes of various lengths, and the shape was as the most interesting and flexible chosen from several options.
To ensure the completed feature looked 'finished' rather than 'industrial', Adams asked Newport-based shopfitters Dudley's to make custom panels either side of the stage resembling other features in the club, into which the tubes could be integrated. This neatly recesses them into the 'wall' plus filling in an otherwise large blank expanse.
The feature is controlled by an AR12, giving 12 touch-panel controlled pages of inbuilt scenes and chases that can be operated by the staff running the games.
Sound
For audio, Vaughan specified a distributed sound system for both the main auditorium and various rooms consisting of over 60 Australian Monitor full range ceiling speakers covering all areas, controlled by a TOA D901 digital mixer and powered by AMIS power amplifiers. The digital mixer principle was recently introduced to other clubs in the chain by VSI to follow the defined game settings required by Castle and accessed by a simple 4-preset push button panel. In addition to the main caller's microphone, VSI supplied 4 TOA UHF radio microphones and provided inputs for the various links for national bingo.AV
VSI also supplied six 40 inch Mitsubishi LCD monitors for displaying the game information around the perimeter of the club. These are connected to the main matrix screen for the bingo input plus displaying corporate advertising and video images all controlled from the main console by the caller. This is the first Castle Leisure site to be totally LCD and have benefited from the increased resolution provided by the MLT402S.Richard Vaughan sums up, "We were pleased to be consulted so early on for our thoughts and ideas, and it was great working with architects who welcomed our input and worked alongside us to resolve the various challenges. Castle Leisure are always looking to provide something new and different in each club being built or refurbished, and they've certainly achieved it at Nantgarw."
Additionally, VSI also provided the club's fire alarm, CCTV and induction loop systems.
