Anolis on the Silk Road

 

Seventy Seven Anolis fixtures have been supplied and installed at Silk Road, Melbourne, a prime venue located in a heritage listed building, hailed for setting new precedents on the global bar and restaurant scene.

The venue is operated and designed by Nick Zampelis, a leading figure on Melbourne’s buzzing hospitality scene and co-designed by architects Woods Bagot. Its theming hints at the decadence and grandeur of the Silk Route heyday. Located on Collins Street, one of Melbourne’s busiest thoroughfares, it reflects a journey through the extensive interconnected network of Silk Road trade routes, steeped in elegance and luxury, fusing ambiences from the Mediterranean, Europe and Asia.

The main bar caters for 950 patrons and is entered via glass doors. It’s overseen by a statue of Marco Polo, and the bar counters are original, retained from the magnificent existing heritage listed banking chamber, clad in limestone and marble. It was in here that installer Light Sound Design was asked to produce an imaginative lighting scheme that minimized reflections between surfaces and highlighted the individual features in an opulent style matching the rest of the room.

LSD’s Adam Nevzat immediately recommended Anolis due to its excellent reputation in this type of installation. LSD is one of Melbourne’s key installation companies and has also used Anolis on numerous other projects. They arranged a demo and came up with a specification to light the room, which resulted in the immediate purchase of the Anolis fixtures.

Forty Anolis ArcLine 36 LED strips are installed within the chandeliers in the foyer by the 2 storey windows, on top of the main bar and above all the upper level bars.

All the LEDs are controlled by an Anolis ArcControl 1024 controller, with data run via CAT 5 cable, and they are powered by an Anolis Arc Power 144. Anolis fixtures are also installed under the main bar and the marble bar at the back of the room.

Due to Anolis’s excellent optics and the homogenized characteristics of the LEDs which eliminates any ‘shadowing’, reflections around the room are eliminated, leaving the fixtures to provide an almost magical atmosphere.

The Anolis system enables Silk Road to adapt and change the colour of the lighting throughout the evening, transforming the space to suit the mood of the crowd. This is proving very popular and is an element of the Silk Road experience frequently drawing comment.

Silk Road is one of Melbourne’s premier CBD venues, frequently hosting corporate parties and attracting a buzzing young business crowd.

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